It's a Quidditch World
by kemi1231
Summary: Miyuki and Sawamura's daily life at Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

"Sawamura, wait up!"

Sawamura increases his pace. "Don't follow me!" he shouts.

_I really am an idiot! All the ways I could've confessed and I did it by accident! _Sawamura thinks. This is really all his fault. But then, it's also Miyuki's fault for being such a sneaky bastard. For his Potions quiz he had to follow a recipe, make a potion, and name what that potion was. He didn't know what his potion was, all he knew was that it had Miyuki's scent-musky but almost sweet-and that there was no potion he'd heard of that smells like Miyuki. With his nasty personality, Sawamura was sure Miyuki put a curse on him or something that made everything smell like him. How was he supposed to know it was Amortentia?

Maybe he should've studied.

So when Miyuki showed up at his Potions classroom after class(why was he even there?)Sawamura really let him have it. That's when Miyuki read the recipe paper and told him what the potion was. Which meant that he basically just told Miyuki _exactly _how he felt about him. Without even thinking he dashed out of classroom at full speed, hoping to put at much distance between him and Miyuki before he died of embarrassment.

"Sawamura, don't run away!" Miyuki calls after him.

_He's _still_ chasing after me? Does he want to tease me that bad? _He can't keep up this pace much longer. Eventually, he starts slowing down and breathing heavier until he comes to a complete stop.

Miyuki catches up with him and grabs his arm. "Finally," he says. He's breathing heavy too. Without saying a word, he pulls Sawamura towards an empty hallway.

"So, Sawamura," Miyuki starts, putting on a playful smirk. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

Sawamura blushes. "No, there isn't."

"Really?" Miyuki invades his space, backing him up until he can feel his back hit the wall. Sawamura tries to think fast, think about what else he could say that's not _"I love you, you bastard." _

"You have nothing to say to me?" Miyuki puts his hand against the wall. He's so close to him that Sawamura can feel his breath puffing out against his lips, and of course he can smell his stupid, amazing scent.

"Smell me again. Maybe you'll come up with something." Sawamura can hear the teasing in Miyuki's tone and it infuriates him.

He shoves Miyuki back harshly. "Don't make fun of me! Don't treat my feelings like some joke!"

Sawamura catches Miyuki's shocked expression but he can't stop. "You want me to say it? Fine, I will! I like you, okay! I really, really like you even though you're sarcastic and twisted and you only think about yourself! I've liked you for a long time, even though I didn't realize it till now! Maybe since the first time I saw you, in a Quidditch game. Laugh at me if you want, but you were the one who inspired me to try out for the team! It's stupid to like a jerk like you so much but-"

Sawamura is interrupted by Miyuki's lips landing on his own.

He freezes with the thought of _Miyuki's kissing me! Miyuki's kissing me! _running through his head. Miyuki tangles his hands in Sawamura's hair, his tongue shamelessly invading Sawamura's mouth. That wakes him up, and he clutches the back of Miyuki's shirt and shyly starts to kiss back. They stay like that for a while, lips joined together in an empty hallway where anyone could see them.

After some time they separate. Miyuki breaks the silence first. "Wow, you really are an idiot."

"What?!"

"It was obvious how I felt about you. The whole team knew. The only one who didn't figure it out was you."

Sawamura blushes. "Oh."

Miyuki looks at his watch. "Speaking of the team-shit we're gonna be late for practice!"

Miyuki takes off running. "Hey, wait for me!" Sawamura calls after him.

They run side by side. "Wait a second. If I 'inspired you to join the Quidditch team' or whatever, why did you become a Seeker?"

"Being a Keeper is boring. All you do is fly back and forth smacking the Quaffles away from the goals. Seekers have the best job. Catching the Snitch means I win the game for the whole team. Hearing the crowd's cheers, earning the respect of my teammates, there's nothing like it. I'll do whatever it takes to be the main Seeker." Sawamura's eyes flared with anticipation. He couldn't wait to get back on field, on his broom and feel the excitement of playing a real game again.

He's surprised by Miyuki's laughter. "Man, you really are an attention hog!"

"Shut up!"

Miyuki smiles. "Your drive is what I like about you, though. That unabashed spirit is what made me notice you, ever since you came on the team." _That spirit lifts me and the team up. You may say I inspired you but you inspire me, Sawamura. _Miyuki would never say that aloud though. Enough embarrassing things have happened today.

Sawamura smiles a little. "Huh, so you _are_ capable of saying nice things."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

Laughing, the Seeker and the Keeper race off to practice.

**EXTRA: **

"So, everything worked out with Miyuki-senpai?" Haruichi asks later in the fifth-year dorm.

Sawamura flushes with embarrassment and says, "Yeah it did. It turns out he likes me too. So guess we're...dating?"

Thinking back on it, all they did was kiss. Miyuki vaguely confessed his feelings and then they ran to Quidditch practice. Does that count as dating? Was Miyuki just screwing around with him?

Kanemaru, who was just passing by stops abruptly and says, "Wait, did you just say Miyuki-senpai and you are dating?"

"I guess, if that bastard isn't playing around." Sawamura grumbles.

All of the fifth-years look up. Kanemaru sighs and pulls a list out from his back pocket. "Okay everyone let's do this calm and orderly. I have the list too, so don't go saying you changed your bet or anything.

"What is Kanemaru talking about?" Sawamura asks as fifth-years line up beside Kanemaru's bed.

Haruichi looks away. "Um, well, you see...even if you didn't realize it it was pretty obvious how you felt about Miyuki-senpai, Eijun-kun." Haruichi nervously chuckles. "So Kanemaru started a betting pool on how long it would for you and Miyuki-senpai to get together."

"What?! Since when? And how come I didn't know about it?"

"Because you're stupid." Furuya says, appearing besides Haruichi's bedpost. "Couldn't you have waited till after winter break?" he murmurs.

"You made a bet?" Sawamura says outrageously. He turns to Haruichi swiftly. "Harucchi, did _you _make a bet too?"

"W-What? I didn't I swear-"

"Don't worry, folks!" Kanemaru's voice resounds throughout the room. "Once I'm finished with this I'll get the next pool running on how long it'll take those two to break up!"

"Kanemaru!" Sawamura stands up suddenly, stalking over to Kanemaru's bed.

"I'm betting two months," Furuya says.

"Furuya-kun," Haruichi chastises softly. "I'd go for three."

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room a similar affair was taking place.

"Wow, Kuramochi. You really know how to make your money, huh." Miyuki says, the regret from even telling Kuramochi about what happened still fresh in his mind.

Kuramochi laughs. "If I'm going to have to watch you and that idiot be all mushy with each other I may as well get paid for it."

Miyuki stares in contempt at the line of sixth and seventh-years collecting their money from Kuramochi. Come to think of it, there had been a lot of times where he'd see sixth-years watching him and Sawamura talk or seventh-years he had never even met handing Kuramochi stuff, which now he realizes must have been money. In hindsight, he should've realized this was going down. But all of his thoughts have been so filled with Sawamura lately that he just ignored it.

_Sawamura, this is all your fault. _But then he smiles. _Whatever, you're worth the trouble anyway._

Ryousuke calls out from across the room, "I bet they won't last a week." A line starts to form in front of him.

"Hey!" Miyuki shouts while Kuramochi says, "Nice one, Ryou-san!"

Miyuki sighs. He's really in for a ride.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I forgot to put an author's note last chapter! So, um thank you for reading! This story doesn't really have a plot, just whatever fun adventure I think Miyuki and Sawamura would get up to in Hogwarts. It's not in chronological order either so one chapter they might be dating for a week while in others they've been dating for months...so yeah. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Finally, it's the weekend!" Sawamura shouts.

"Eijun-kun, be quiet."

"Sorry, Harucchi." Sawamura apologizes but he just can't help. This week has been really hectic and stressful and he really needs to unwind. Thankfully, this weekend happens to be the weekends that the upperclassmen get to go to Hogsmeade. He practically skips down the pathway, excited to hang out with his friends and relax with a warm glass of Butterbeer.

"We should stop by Honeydukes first," Furuya says. "I want to get Chocolate Frogs and Chocolate Skeletons and Jelly Slugs and Liquorice Wands and…" Furuya trails off, most likely thinking about the massive amounts of candy to be bought.

Sawamura laughs loudly. "That's the spirit, Furuya! I'm gonna buy some Sugar Quills. And some Cauldron Cakes." He pauses to think. "Maybe some Skeletal Sweets? Maybe I'll buy some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans for later…" He's so deep in thought he doesn't notice someone come up behind him and put their arm around his shoulder.

"Sawamura, if you eat all that you'll get fat." The person pokes his stomach. "Well, fatter than you already are."

Sawamura turns around to find that it's none other than Miyuki Kazuya, the sixth-year Keeper for the Gryffindor team and also his...boyfriend? At the beginning of the week he accidentally confessed his feelings to Miyuki, but surprisingly Miyuki confessed back. But ever since then they hadn't had the chance to talk at all, not even during Quidditch practice. That bothered Sawamura, and for the whole week he couldn't stop annoyingly thinking about what he meant to Miyuki and whether they were dating or not.

"Miyuki!" he shouts, grabbing Miyuki by the front of his shirt.

Miyuki smirks widely and tugs at the scarf around Sawamura's neck. "Is that my scarf?" he asks coyly.

Sawamura looks away. "You're so full of yourself! I've got a red and gold scarf just like you."

"I thought you lost it."

"Well, I found it! And now I'm wearing it!"

Of course, that was a lie. He forgot to return the scarf Miyuki had lent him and put it on this morning without even thinking about it. For some reason, it felt warmer than his ever did.

"Is that so?" Miyuki replies smugly.

Sawamura refuses to meet his gaze. He hates how easily Miyuki can read him. It just makes him feel like more of an idiot than he already is.

Kuramochi, who's been watching the whole situation with a disgusted expression sighs and says, "I'll be going on ahead then, Miyuki. Have fun on your date, I guess."

That makes Sawamura flush as red as his scarf. "D-Date?"

"We'll be going on ahead too," Haruichi says.

"Harucchi, Furuya, don't leave me!" They continue walking ahead at a faster pace.

"Have a good time, Eijun-kun!" Haruichi calls back.

Sawamura rushes forward to follow them, only to be held back by Miyuki. He turns back to pull away, but the apologetic look in Miyuki's eyes stops him.

"Sorry. I was gonna try and be a gentleman today but I failed at doing that, didn't I? From this point forward, no mean comments! After all, this is our first date."

As much as it weirded him out to hear Miyuki sounding so..._nice_, the fact that Miyuki was taking their first date so seriously made Sawamura feel fuzzy inside.

"If you're serious then it's...whatever. I forgive you, I guess." Sawamura mumbles.

Miyuki smiles so brightly it takes his breath away. "Great! Then let's go! I've got some stuff I wanna buy too."

Miyuki grabs his hand, intertwining their fingers. He pulls Sawamura down the pathway and together they set off towards Hogsmeade.

* * *

"Huh? I thought you said we were going for a drink?" Sawamura remarks as they past the Three Broomsticks.

"Are you joking? The Three Broomsticks has to be the least romantic place in the world, except for maybe the Shrieking Shack. Which we are going to stop by."

"Then we where are we going?"

Miyuki chuckles. "Come on, Sawamura haven't you been on a date before? A Hogwarts romance wouldn't be complete without the boyfriend and girlfriend's first date at Madame Puddifoot's Tea Shop."

Sawamura isn't impressed. "The tea shop? Why are we going there? And just who's the girlfriend in this relationship?"

"We're going there because it's a good, quiet place for a date. Unlike the Three Broomsticks which is filled with loud, slightly drunken, idiots. Plus, I like their coffee."

"What about my last question?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."

Sawamura clenches his fist. _I'm going to hit him, I swear. _

They step inside and he has to admit Miyuki has a point. The atmosphere in the tea shop is quieter, more serene. Trying to imagine what Miyuki's face would look like soft and mushy like the guys in the cafe makes Sawamura's stomach knot up with butterflies.

"Sawamura, what's with that constipated face? Let's go find a place to sit."

They find a nice little corner tucked in the back and settle in. "Hey, can I you a question?" Sawamura asks after the waitress sets down their drinks.

"Sure, ask me anything."

"Were you planning on telling me we were going on a date today? If I had known I'd would've, I don't know, dressed nicer or something-"

"I don't know, I guess thought you knew." Miyuki cuts him off.

"How would I know if you didn't tell me?!"

Miyuki thinks on that. "Think about it. We've haven't talked all week, our only free time is the weekend which is coincidentally a Hogsmeade weekend, and everyone goes on dates at Hogsmeade and we are technically dating. It'd be stupid not to take this chance to go on a date."

Laid out like that it did make sense. "I guess that makes sense."

"Besides, you don't need to wear anything different than what you usually wear." Miyuki smiles. "I like you just the way you are, Sawamura."

Even Sawamura can feel how red his face is. "How can you say embarrassing stuff like that so easily?"

Miyuki laughs. "It's an acquired talent."

After a few cups of tea Sawamura feels himself relax. The butterflies are replaced with a warm, comfy feeling and he lets his guard down. True to his promise, Miyuki is a complete gentleman. They spend hours telling each other stories about their experience at Hogwarts and funny stories about their childhood.

"-and then I started flying around the kitchen!"

Miyuki laughs loudly. "You're joking! Then what happened?"

"Well, my mom was pretty pissed. She yelled at me to get down from the broom so she could finish sweeping. My dad laughed so hard he started crying. After almost smashing into a window my grandpa got me down. That's how my family found out I was a wizard."

"Awesome! My story isn't nearly as exciting-"

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something." Sawamura interrupts.

"You sure know how to make a guy nervous," Miyuki chuckles. "Go ahead."

Sawamura clears his throat. This is something he's always wanted to ask Miyuki, and now he thinks he has the courage to actually do it.

"What...What inspired you to play Quidditch?"

Silence. Miyuki's eyes widen in surprise, only to close with laughter. "Damn, Sawamura, is Quidditch all you think about?"

Sawamura stares aggressively at his cup. "I know it's a stupid question but I just want to know, alright! Watching you play...you play with a lot of passion. So I started wondering what made you play Quidditch. There has to be something, right? Something that makes you play?"

He's not sure if he's imagining it, but Miyuki's smile looks a little sad. "My mom." Miyuki says quietly.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"My mom." Miyuki repeats, louder. "When my mom went to Hogwarts she was the Keeper for Gryffindor and captain in her last year. She was so good, she got scouted by the Holyhead Harpies. She played for a few years, but then she had me and had to retire."

"Your mom was on the Holyhead Harpies? That's so cool! No wonder you're so good at Quidditch! What does she do now?"

Miyuki clenches his fist. "Nothing, since she's dead."

Sawamura's eyes widen. "Oh god I'm so sorry, Miyuki. Sorry, I shouldn't have even asked in the first place."

Miyuki reaches over and holds his hand. "It's okay, you didn't know. Because of me, my mom never got to win the World Cup with her team. Since she's gone now, I'm gonna fulfill her dream. I'll become the best Keeper I can possibly be, get scouted by an international team and win the World Cup. I owe her that much."

Sawamura's grip tightens around his hand. "I think you can definitely do it, Miyuki. If you can't, then no else can!"

Miyuki is stunned for a second. Then he smiles softly. Only Sawamura could say brash words like that with a conviction so strong that it almost clears away his self-doubts. He wonders briefly if his mom would mind that he's found another reason to play Quidditch, a second person who gives him passion.

Maybe he's being naive, but he doesn't think she'll mind.

"Thanks, Sawamura. Come on, let's head to Honeydukes before we run out of time."

* * *

"After someone made a rude comment about my weight, I think I'll just buy some Chocolate Frogs." Sawamura says while giving Miyuki a mean look.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry? If it'll make you feel better, I'll buy something for you."

"No, it's alright. You already paid for the drinks." The memory of Miyuki's insisting on paying for the tea with taunts of "I'm the boyfriend in this relationship, remember?" is still fresh in his mind.

"Here, you want some Liquorice Wands? We can share." Miyuki says as he pulls a pack off the shelf.

"No thanks. I don't really like liquorice, to be honest." he admits.

Miyuki almost drops the pack. "You don't like liquorice? Why, did something horrible happen to you?"

"What, no! I just don't like the taste, that's all!"

He shakes his head in pity. "You poor soul. Liquorice is the perfect candy, not too sweet but not bitter and they're cheap. Plus, they come in a pretty shade of red."

Sawamura gives him a look that can only be described as a combination of confusion and annoyance. "Can we talk something that's _not_ liquorice?"

Miyuki raises his hands up in a placating manner. "Your wish is my command."

They browse the shelves some more and, after they were both pretty satisfied with their choices, went in line to pay.

Out of nowhere Sawamura asks, "Is red your favorite color?"

Miyuki gives him a confused look. "Um, yeah, I think it is."

"Okay."

_I don't think I'll ever understand this guy, _Miyuki thinks. "Uh, what's yours?"

"Yellow." Sawamura replies.

"Yellow, huh? It suits you." A bright, loud color. Yeah, it's not surprising at all that Sawamura would like that color.

"I'm not sure if that's an insult or not."

Miyuki puts his arm around Sawamura, which is awkward considering he's behind him. "It's a compliment," he states simply.

After leaving Honeydukes they head to the last place on their(Miyuki's)agenda, the Shrieking Shack.

"Why did you want you want to come here so bad?" Sawamura asks. He had come here once during his first year, but it hadn't lived up to the hype.

"Just recently I read a book on the Shrieking Shack. As the legend goes, there were rumors of a child-eating wolf living inside the house…"

Miyuki's words fade out as Sawamura notices that it's starting to snow again. Pure white flakes fall on the house, making it look a little less scary. He turns to tell Miyuki this, only to feel the words die in his mouth. The snowflakes fall on Miyuki's hair and on his eyelashes. It brings attention to his eyes, lit up from his excitement about whatever he's talking about and his cheeks which are flushed from the cold.

Hogsmeade may look beautiful in the snow, but it's got nothing on Miyuki.

Sawamura is so caught up in his appearance that he doesn't realize that Miyuki has stopped talking and is staring at him instead.

"Sawamura," Miyuki says clearly, breaking through his reverie.

"What? Sorry, I stopped listening-"

"There's another reason I wanted to come here." He takes a step closer. "Because of the legends, people rarely come here. So, it's pretty much the only private spot in Hogsmeade." His hand brushes Sawamura's cheek. "The only spot where we can be _alone_."

Because he's not a complete idiot, it doesn't surprise him when Miyuki leans down and kisses him.

Sawamura clutches the front of his jacket and Miyuki pulls him closer, kissing him deeper. It's different from the kiss in the hallway somehow. That kiss was impulsive and passionate but this, this is slow and sweet and it fills him completely. His knees shake with the tenderness of it and for a second he forgets about everything except this moment, right here with Miyuki.

After a while, Miyuki pulls back a little. "Thanks for the date," Miyuki whispers. The words don't even register with him until later, while Miyuki pulls his dazed body back to school.

* * *

Later, Sawamura jumps into bed. He gets under the covers and closes his eyes thinking, _Miyuki's favorite candy is liquorice, his favorite color is red, he plays Quidditch for his mom..._He knows it's stupid but learning new things about the guy he's had serious feelings for for so long...it makes him so unbearably happy he can hardly fall asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Haruichi thinks back to the first time he met Furuya.

It wasn't the best day for him. He was practically shaking when his mom and dad waved goodbye to him at Kings Cross Station. He had spent most of elementary school friendless and was terrified of spending the next six years of his life the same way. He was also worried about the Sorting Hat. How was he supposed to follow in his brother's footsteps if he wasn't sorted into Gryffindor? Friendless and far away from his brother, Haruichi's thoughts were turning bleaker by the second. Speaking of his brother, Ryousuke wasn't much helped to his mood. As soon as they stopped in front the Hogwarts train Ryousuke turned around grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Listen, Haruichi. Just because we go to the same school now doesn't mean I'm gonna let you follow me around like some little duckling. You're going to have to find your own group, make your own friends, and get out from under my shadow. And that starts right now."

"Can't you at least ride with me to Hogwarts?" Haruichi pleaded.

"No. I've got my own friends to ride with." With that, Ryousuke turned around and ran up the train steps.

Haruichi sighed. He knew that his brother was only really mean to him when he was trying to him a lesson him but...Sometimes it really hurt him. Haruichi felt his eyes well up, but he clenched his fist and willed the tears not to fall. _Aniki is right, _Haruichi thought. _I don't wanna be the loser crybaby again. This year I'm gonna make friends! _With his resolve in mind he walked up the train steps.

First things first, he needed to find a train compartment to sit in. Each compartment was full, though. Finally, near the end of the train there was an empty compartment. Or, almost empty compartment. There was what appeared to be a lump in the corner.

"Excuse me?" The lump twitched, proving that it was alive. "Um, it is okay if I sit here?"

Haruichi thought he heard a grunt. "Thank you very much!" Lump or no lump, he was happy that he didn't have to spend the train ride alone.

The train hadn't started yet, so Haruichi rested his head on the window. His eyes started to drift close when he swore he heard a distinct, "Hey."

His eyes flew open. Instead of a lump, in front of him was now a boy. Sleepily the boy murmured, "Who're you?"

"I'm Kominato Haruichi! Sorry for intruding but I needed a place to sit and this was the only the compartment that had space…"

The boy just looked at him indifferently. "I don't mind. Do whatever you want."

Haruichi saw a chance and took it. "W-What's your name?"

He was rewarded with a blank stare. "Furuya Satoru."

_This person is hard to talk to, huh? _"Furuya-senpai, then? Are you a third-year? You might know my brother-"

"I'm a first-year."

Haruichi stared at him, shocked. _Is he serious? I thought he was at least a third-year. _Even sitting down Furuya looked really tall. And he didn't even look nervous at all.

"I'm a first-year too. What house do you want to-" he stopped talking when something started wriggling around under Furuya's shirt.

They stared at each other.

Honestly, Haruichi considered finding another place to sit just escape from the sheer awkwardness. Then a black cat peered out from the top of Furuya's shirt.

"Oh, is that your cat? What's its name?"

Furuya blinked. "This is Kuro. My cat."

"She's really cute. Can I pet her?"

"How do you know it's a she?"

"I don't know she just seems like a she, you know? Well, can I pet her?"

"She's not good around strangers-" As Furuya said this, Kuro wriggled out of his shirt and jumped on to Haruichi's lap.

Haruichi laughs. "She seems friendly to me." He petted Kuro softly, smiling at her soft purrs. Furuya just stared at him, dumbfounded.

"I wanted a cat, but my dad is allergic. My brother and I share an owl though." Haruichi said.

Furuya was still staring at him with a shocked expression. "My parents got her for me for my birthday." he said after a few moments.

"That's cool," he replied, but his attention was mainly on the cat. "So Furuya, do you know what house you wanna be in?"

Furuya's gaze moved to the window. "I don't know. It doesn't really matter, as long as I can play Quidditch."

That drew Haruichi's attention. "Are you really into Quidditch too? What position do play? What's your favorite team? Do you have your own broom?"

This launched Haruichi and Furuya into a long conversation about Quidditch. They were so deep in their discussion that Haruichi barely noticed that the train had started moving. He didn't feel so nervous about school anymore. If he could make a friend here on the train, who knows how many he could make when he got to school?

Haruichi was in the middle of telling Furuya about a tricky move his brother showed when the sliding door was violently opened. The door slammed shut and a boy with messy brown hair slid down against it, breathing heavily.

"I can't believe I made it," the boy said between breaths.

They were silent while the boy caught his breath. When he had finally calmed down he looked at the both of them sheepishly.

"Sorry for crashing in on your room. There's no else to sit so…"

"It's okay!" Haruichi quickly reassured him. "I'm Kominato Haruichi and this is Furuya Satoru. We're both first-years. It's nice to meet you!"

"I'm a first-year too!" At least with this person that was easy to tell. "I'm Sawamura Eijun. Nice to meet you!"

"Why did you come in such a rush?" he asked.

Sawamura looked away. "Well, um, I kinda woke up late which was sort of a problem since I planned to wake up early to finish packing up my stuff. So this morning was pretty hectic. My dad practically speeded to get me here on time and then I couldn't figure out how to get to the Hogwarts train but then I figured it out and luckily I jumped on just as the train started moving. So that's what happened." Sawamura finished, collapsing into the seat next to Haruichi.

It didn't take long for the trio to feel relaxed around each other and they spent the rest of the train ride talking about various things. They found out that Sawamura didn't know anything about Quidditch.

"Oh, yeah I'm a half-blood. My stupid dad is a wizard and didn't even me! In fact, I don't think they were ever gonna tell me, till they found out I was a wizard too. So I don't know a lot about the wizarding world."

Haruichi and Furuya took it upon themselves to teach Sawamura all about Quidditch. They had barely scratched the surface by the time they got to school.

Luckily, the three of them were all sorted into Gryffindor. The next morning at breakfast as he looked for a seat, he heard someone call his name.

"Harucchi, over here!" he turned to see Sawamura motioning to the seat next to him.

_Harucchi? _he thought. He walked over and slid into the seat next to Sawamura. "Thanks for saving me a seat, Sawamura-kun."

"You don't have to be so formal with me. We're friends, aren't we?"

Haruichi felt like he was on top of the world. He smiled at Sawamura and said, "Yeah, we're friends!"

Sawamura smiled back. "Then call me Eijun!"

"Okay, Eijun-kun." Haruichi replied.

Sawamura groaned. "Close enough, I guess."

Haruichi spotted Furuya walking around. "Furuya-kun, over here!" he called to him.

He waved Furuya over and Furuya sat across from them. "Good morning Kominato and…"

"Sawamura! We sat on the train together, remember?" Sawamura said angrily.

"Right, Sawamura."

Sawamura sighed. "You can call me Eijun, since we're friends and all. Can I call you Satoru?"

Furuya stared at him for a few minutes. "No, you can call me Furuya."

Haruichi didn't know what is was, maybe the dry tone in Furuya's voice or Sawamura's angry fist slam on the table, but he felt this enormous feeling of relief rise up in him. He laughed loudly, feeling happier than he had been in years.

Hogwarts had already started to feel like home.

* * *

"Haruichi?"

Haruichi snaps back into the present, studying in the common room with Furuya. "Sorry, did you say something?"

Furuya looks at him worriedly. "Are you okay? You seem distracted."

"I'm fine, I'm fine don't worry about me." Haruichi assures him. He's really grateful to have met Furuya and Sawamura. They've grown closer and closer over the years and he doesn't what he'd do without them.

Haruichi is surprised to feel a warm palm on his forehead. "Are you sick?" Furuya asks.

He feels his face flame up. "I-I'm fine, Furuya-kun." He gently pushes Furuya's hand away.

He meets Furuya's big, worried eyes and can't find the will to look away. It makes it hard to breathe.

Furuya has changed from when they were first-years. He's less cold, more empathetic. He used to be very quiet, but now in the moments they spend alone he tells Haruichi more about himself. Even when he doesn't talk, Haruichi learns more about him. And yet, he's started to want to know more.

Furuya looks for a few more seconds, then turns back to his homework. "Okay, if you're sure."

Haruichi turns back to his work too. "Thanks for worrying about me."

"I'd worry about you without you asking me to."

If Haruichi thought it was impossible for his face to get any redder, he was wrong. He remembers the day he met Furuya so clearly, like it was yesterday.

If only he could remember the day he fell for Furuya. That would be nice.

* * *

**A/N:** A simple grace chapter before we head straight into conflict! Thank you for all you comments they really made me happy! And oh I have a tumblr, .com, if that matters at all.


	4. Chapter 4

Kazuya can only call it a miracle. The thing about miracles, though, is that they always run out.

Kazuya discreetly puts his books back in his backpack. It's only a few more minutes until the bell rings and school is over, and he's practically counting down the seconds. He tried to like History of Magic, but listening to the monotonous drawl of information he doesn't really care about makes it really hard. It doesn't help that it's the last class on a list of several exhausting classes. Plus, he's got Quidditch practice after this. Thinking about the tiring hours of difficult practice he's going to have to endure when he really wants to take a nap puts Kazuya in a foul mood, but he quickly snaps out of it.

_Quidditch won't be fun for anyone if I'm like this._ Kazuya thinks. It's true, since when Kazuya is in a bad mood he tends to be crueler than he usually is. _Maybe I'll go pick up Sawamura from his class. Picking on him will cheer me up. _An unconscious smile graces Kazuya's face as he thinks about what's he gonna say to Sawamura when he meets him. He's so deep in thought he doesn't notice the bell ringing. It's not until he sees students filing out that he leans over to zip up his backpack and that's when he feels a figure towering over him. He looks up straight into blazing blue eyes.

"Kazuya," the voice of doom says. "We need to talk."

_Shit shit shit._ "What's up, Mei? It feels like it's been awhile since we've talked." Kazuya says while forcing out a chuckle.

Mei glares at him. He opens his mouth to say something when Kuramochi walks up to the two of them.

Kuramochi glances at Mei then looks at him. "Miyuki, we'd better get going. Coach will be mad if we're late again."

Kazuya gives Mei a sheepish look. " Sorry, but Kuramochi's right. I really need to get practice. Maybe another time?"

He drags Kuramochi off without waiting for a response. He can feel Mei's eyes burning into his back.

When they get far enough Kuramochi says, "You owe me one."

"Yeah, thanks for helping me out."

Kuramochi still kicks him in frustration. "But I'm not doing that again! From now on, this is your problem and yours alone! I knew this would happen and I told you all the way back when we were fourth-years-"

"Alright, Kuramochi! I'll deal with this myself, I promise." As if he needed something else added to his mountain of stress.

"Yeah, you better." Kuramochi says ominously. "And fast too. Knowing how that guy works it's only a matter of time before Sawamura becomes involved."

Kazuya stiffens. "Don't worry, I said I'd take care of it."

He'll keep Sawamura out of it for as long as he can, no matter what.

* * *

Sawamura looks out the window. All the snow has melted away and the leaves have started to come back. The Potions professor is lecturing about healing potions or something, Sawamura doesn't know. It's not like he hates Potions or anything, but the leaves have more of his attention than the professor.

_Five more minutes,_ Sawamura thinks. _Five more minutes till I'm back on my broom. _He was itching to get to Quidditch practice. He couldn't wait to get his hands on his broom, to feel the wind in his hair, and the thrill that comes every twist and dive.

_I wonder if Miyuki is gonna stop by. _he thinks and immediately feels embarrassed for the thought. Most days, Miyuki has been stopping by the Potions classroom at the end of the day so he and Sawamura could walk to practice together, though he hasn't been able to lately. The fact that Miyuki would go all the way to his classroom despite the field being in the other direction makes Sawamura really happy. He knows it's stupid, but it's small things like that that remind him that Miyuki really does like him.

They've been dating for a couple of months now and things have been going pretty well, to the disappointment of all those betting on their breakup. They have petty fights, but that's really no different from how their relationship used to be before. He's discovered that deep, deep, _deep _down beneath the arrogant bastard front Miyuki puts on he can be really sweet and surprisingly romantic. Annoyingly Sawamura still never knows what Miyuki is thinking. It really does irritate him, especially since the only thing he thinks about is Miyuki. It's always something stupid like Miyuki's smile or his casual touches, or the way he looks in a Quidditch uniform…

His thoughts are interrupted by a sharp nudge in his side.

He turns and opens his mouth to ask Haruichi what that was for when he notices that the whole class is staring at him. And that the professor's face is really red.

"Sawamura, see me after class." the professor says through gritted teeth.

There goes his freedom.

By time the professor is done chewing him out Sawamura has to sprint to practice and throw on his practice uniform, but even then he's noticeably late. He tries to sneak into line and almost thinks he's successful until before dismissing the team Coach says, without turning around, "Twenty laps around the field, Sawamura. Ten for being late and ten for trying to lie about it."

"Boss, I can explain-" But Coach is already walking away, to Sawamura's disappointment.

Haruichi walks over to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, Eijun-kun. I tried to warn you that the teacher was calling on you, but you were completely out of it."

Kuramochi and Miyuki walk over as well. "What happened, Bakamura?" Kuramochi says while snickering. "Fall asleep in class again?"

Sawamura turns to him angrily. "I didn't fall asleep! I was just distracted, that's all!" He looks at Miyuki, expecting him to cut in with a smug retort. Instead, Miyuki says nothing and just looks at the ground. Which is weird considering this is Miyuki, the person that would jump on the chance to insult Sawamura.

Miyuki continues to be weird all practice. He barely glances at Sawamura and even when he's helping out with Seeker training he says the bare minimum. _ Is he mad at me? _Sawamura wonders. Sawamura can't think of anything he's done to warrant Miyuki's anger. Still, it worries him. How is he supposed to apologize if he doesn't know what he did wrong?

Sawamura is so lost in his thoughts that he barely hears someone shout, "Sawamura get out the way!"

Sawamura looks up and dives down, narrowly missing a wayward Bludger that would've knocked him out if it hit him.

"Sawamura, if you don't feel like practicing today you can head straight to the dorms!" Coach yells.

"Sorry, Boss! I'm focused now!" He grits his teeth. _Damn Miyuki! That's the second time he's gotten me in trouble! _Then he shakes his head. For now he banishes all thoughts of Miyuki from his head and focuses on the one great love of his life: Quidditch.

* * *

By the time practice is over Sawamura is worn out. Coach really rode him hard today, but he doesn't really mind. If he's focusing on Sawamura that could mean he might start next game, right? Just thinking about that flares up Sawamura's determination. He shoves his Quidditch uniform into his locker and turns around, and to his surprise there's someone right in front of him.

"Ah!" Sawamura shouts. Then he scowls. "Oh, it's you."

"What's with that reaction?" Miyuki says, amused. "You mad at me or something?"

"Shouldn't I be asking that?" he says heatedly.

Miyuki looks confused. "Huh? Why would I be mad at you? Did you do something bad?"

"No, I didn't! You're the one acting weird! You were really quiet, even when I did something stupid, and you barely looked at me all practice!"

Miyuki looks shocked for a second, then smirks. "I see. If I don't have my attention on you at all times that means I'm mad at you?"

Sawamura flares up in anger. "You know what I mean! You were acting weird and if it's not because you're mad at me then what?"

Miyuki hesitates. It's slight, but Sawamura still notices it. "I'm just tired, that's all. _Some_ of us try to pay attention in class."

"Listen you bastard-"

"Oi Miyuki, Sawamura!" They both turn towards Kuramochi and Ryousuke, who are hovering in front of the exit.

"I'll tolerate it in the common room, but keep your lover spats out of the locker room!" Kuramochi says sternly.

"Yes, this is a safe space." Ryousuke says calmly.

Miyuki rolls his eyes. "Understood."

As they leave Miyuki makes a face. "I wonder if Kuramochi will appreciate me constantly cockblocking them when they get together?"

He turns back to Sawamura. "So, now that we've established that I've got no secret grudge against you, you wanna hang out?"

The offer is tempting, but the professor's mention of his low grades is still fresh in his mind. "Sorry, but I need to do my homework." It's hard for him to even get the words out.

"I can help you. Unlike you, I get top marks in all my classes." Miyuki says smugly.

Sawamura looks away with a grumpy look on his face. "No thanks, you perv."

"What do you mean by 'perv'?"

Sawamura pins him with a fierce gaze. "I haven't forgotten the last time you convinced me to study with you! You said the same exact words, and then instead of helping me you just distracted me even more!"

Miyuki leans in close to his ear. "You weren't exactly complaining, were you?" he says, and the low rumble of his voice makes Sawamura shudder.

He shoves Miyuki back. "I'm serious, Miyuki! If I start failing again they won't just put me on probation, they'll actually kick me off the team."

Miyuki puts his hands up. "Fine, fine. I have to wonder though, which is more important to you: me or Quidditch?" Sawamura starts to say something but Miyuki cuts him off. "How about this? Let's sneak out tonight."

"Tonight?"

"I'll just switch patrol duties with Yui-chan, so it'll fine."

Despite the risk, the chance to spend time alone with Miyuki was too tantalizing to pass up. "Yeah, okay."

"Okay." Miyuki responds, smiling. Sawamura couldn't help but smile too.

They stand there, staring at each other and smiling like idiots until they realize that they're the only ones left in the locker. They break out of their reverie and look away, slightly embarrassed.

Miyuki offers his hand. "Well, let's head back to the common room."

Entwining his fingers with Miyuki's, they set off down the path together.

* * *

He can hear Haruichi saying something about Transfiguration but(as usual)his attention is drawn to somewhere else. He sees Miyuki and Natsukawa, one of the Quidditch managers and the other sixth-year Prefect, talking. Natsukawa has a finger in Miyuki's face, and from where Sawamura is sitting it looks like he's getting a good scolding. But then Natsukawa punches his shoulder playfully and they both start laughing. Sawamura feels a flash of irritation. _That damn flirt! _But then he calms himself down. It's not like he doesn't know what Miyuki and Natsukawa are talking about.

He remembers what Miyuki told him one time. _It's not like Yui-chan is exactly thrilled about helping me to something against school rules, especially since we're both Prefects. But we have an understanding. She turns a blind eye to us sneaking out and I turn a blind eye to her sneaking out to see her Slytherin girlfriend. It's a win-win for everyone! _

Natsukawa is already in a relationship, so Sawamura doesn't have to worry about Miyuki cheating on him with her. Wait, no that's wrong! He doesn't have to worry because Miyuki would never cheat on him whether the person was single or not! Sawamura shakes his head. He really needs to trust Miyuki more.

"Eijun-kun I have homework too, you know. If you're not going to listen I won't help you anymore." Haruichi chastises, bringing his attention back to the homework he's supposed to be doing.

Sawamura pales. "I'm sorry, Harucchi! I'll pay attention from now on, I promise!"

Later on the way to dinner Miyuki sidles up next to him and whispers, "Yui-chan switched patrol duties with me." He flashes a smirk and then quickly walks ahead of Sawamura to catch up with his friends.

Haruichi and Furuya, who are standing beside him try and fail to smother their laughter. Sawamura yells at them, "Shut up! It's not my fault he likes pretends we're having some steamy love affair!" Still, he can't hide the excitement that rises up in him. It feels like it's been awhile since they last did this.

At night, Sawamura tiptoes out of the dorms and through the common room, leading to the hallway. Like clockwork Miyuki is there making his "rounds".

Miyuki shines his wand light in his face. "What are you doing up past curfew?" A smirk. "Ten points from Gryffindor."

Sawamura wills himself not to shudder at the low quality Miyuki's voice takes on. "Knock it off. Let's go before one of the other prefects catches us."

Miyuki takes his hand and leads Sawamura to one of the secret passageways he had discovered during his third year. Within minutes they're outside and on the courtyard. They settle down on a clear patch of grass.

"Wow, the sky's really clear tonight." Sawamura says as he stares up at the starry sky.

"Yeah." Miyuki simply affirms.

Sawamura is taking Astrology, so they pass the time by Miyuki pointing at different constellations and Sawamura tells the story behind their names. Astrology is the only class he actually likes, so as he explains the history behind each constellation Sawamura becomes more and more animated. It's not until he gets into a particularly lengthy story that Sawamura's gaze moves from the sky just to notice that Miyuki is already looking at him. Their eyes meet, and Sawamura can feel the words die in his throat. The closer Miyuki shifts the faster his heart starts beating, until their lips meet. It's an innocent kiss, close-mouthed and everything, but it still fills Sawamura with sweetness. He wonders if he'll ever be able to kiss Miyuki without feeling like he's going to explode.

Miyuki pulls back but not too far, touching their foreheads together. "Hey, Sawamura? Can I ask you something?"

"...Okay." Sawamura replies warily. Usually if Miyuki wants to ask something he just asks it, and not with such a solemn tone. If Sawamura didn't suspect it before, now he knows for sure something is going on with Miyuki.

"You like me, right?" Miyuki asks.

Silence.

Then Sawamura pushes Miyuki back. "Are you making fun of me or something? And I thought you were actually going to be serious for once!"

Sawamura moves to get up but Miyuki grabs his wrist. "I am serious!" Miyuki whispers fiercely. Then he sighs. "Don't leave, okay? I'm not making fun of you right now, I swear. Just...answer the question.

Sawamura stares at him for a second then settles back down on the grass. "What kind of a stupid question is that? Of course I like you! I like you a lot! Why would I date you if I didn't like you?"

"And that won't change? No matter what?"

Sawamura feels like he's being pinned by the serious look in Miyuki's eyes. It's a heavy question, something that can't be answered lightly. Even so, Sawamura knows his answer.

"You could make me angry, make me sad, make me upset and I'd still like you, Miyuki. There are a lot of times when I think I hate you, but I know deep down that I don't mean it. I don't know how to hate you. Even if you did something really bad, I'd still like you, even if I really wanted to hate you. I can't change that. I don't want to."

Miyuki is silent, eyes filled with awe before he laughs softly. "I guess I'm the one being the idiot this time." He rests his head on Sawamura's shoulder "I feel the same way, Sawamura. The same exact way."

Sawamura rests his head on top of Miyuki's. _Who do you think you are, Miyuki, asking me unfair questions like that? But I guess that's because you're an unfair person. You're so unfair, being such an awful person but still making me like you so much. _

"Miyuki, you'd tell me if something was bothering you, right?" Sawamura asks.

"Of course. You can trust me, Sawamura." He says it so earnestly that Sawamura has no choice but to believe him.

Sawamura closes his eyes, soaking up the comfortable feeling that surrounds him. He commits this moment to memory, relishing in the thought he and Miyuki have gotten a little closer. He's not ready to let that "l" word to fully cross through his mind yet, but he does make a decision. He's going to trust Miyuki.

Even if he won't acknowledge it, breathing in time with Miyuki's breathes, Sawamura is falling deeper in love with Miyuki each day…

* * *

When Kazuya wakes up, he makes a decision.

It really was a miracle, to go this long avoiding Mei and in turn avoid any of the problems he knew would come up once Mei found out he had a boyfriend. But that miracle has run out, and it's time to stop running. Even though he's in Gryffindor, Kazuya isn't the bravest person he knows. But when he thinks of Sawamura, the way his face shines in the moonlight and the way he simply but honestly says that he'll never stop liking him, his resolve strengthens. Sawamura is the only person who gives him the strength to be brave.

So when Mei approaches him again at the end of class with the same menacing glare, Miyuki looks up at him with a smile, and says that he's been waiting to talk to him all day.

Mei drags him to an empty hallway at the far end of the castle, which means that Mei isn't playing around today. Which is good, because neither is he.

"So," Kazuya starts, taking on a casual tone. "What did you want to talk to me about, Mei? We haven't had any time to ourselves in a while."

"You've been avoiding me." Straight to the point. Mei can be scary when he's serious but Kazuya's known him too long to back down here.

"Avoiding you? Why would I do that? I told you, I've just been busy with Quidditch and stuff. I've got my hands full training the Seekers-"

"You can cut the bullshit, Kazuya. That's not even what I wanted to talk to you about. You can lie to me about that, but I won't tolerate anything but the truth on this."

Kazuya lets his smile fade. "On what?"

Mei shoves his hands into his pockets. "A little birdie told me some interesting Gryffindor gossip."

"That birdie must really get around, if it's going out of its way to tell a Slytherin about Gryffindor business."

"It's your fault, Kazuya. I worry about you. If I don't keep an eye on you, who knows what you'll do?"

That just makes him angry. "That's the thing, Mei. I don't _need_ you to keep an eye on me." He takes a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "Look, Mei, I think there's something you're not understanding."

"Really? And what would that be?"

"Our relationship had it's ups and downs but there were always more downs. I've accepted the fact that as much as we like each other, we're better as friends. I thought you accepted that too."

"I have accepted that!"

"Friends don't keep tabs on friends! We're not dating anymore, so there's no reason for you send people to spy on my personal life."

"Get off your high horse, Kazuya." Mei huffs. "Is it that shocking to you that gossip spreads between houses? Or is it more believable to you that I would send out secret agents to report to me about your every step?"

"All I'm saying is nobody has ever just happened to tell me a rumor about you."

"That's because I'm honest with you!" Mei's voice slightly raises. When something new changes with me, you're the first person I tell! You used to do the same but now all you do is lie! For once, I just want to hear the truth from you! Yeah, we aren't dating anymore, but we were still _doing_ things for months after our breakup. Now, you go out of your way not to even to look at me. I wanna know why."

Kazuya narrows his eyes. "What did your little birdie tell you?"

Mei grabs the front of his sweater. "He told me he saw you kissing some guy." he says, fist clenching around the fabric. "And that it was someone I would know, some loudmouth or something. Is this guy your boyfriend?"

Miyuki sighs. He grabs Mei's hand from the front of his sweater and slowly lowers it. "Yes, okay? 'That guy' is my boyfriend."

"Who is he? What's his name? I want to meet him." Mei says in one breath.

"No!" Miyuki curses at himself, knowing he said that too quick. "I mean, this is what I'm talking about Mei. When has it ever been a good idea to introduce your ex to your new boyfriend?"

"What about all that bullshit about being friends? I bet that bastard Kuramochi has met him. So has everyone else on your team. If those people have met him, why can't I?"

Faintly, Miyuki recalls a younger him who asked himself the same question and when he couldn't come up with a sufficient answer eagerly went and told Mei everything time and time again.

He was not that naive boy anymore.

Through gritted teeth he says, "You know why."

Mei crosses his arms and smiles, but there's nothing happy about it. "Oh? Refresh my memory then. What reason is so bad that you have to keep your precious boyfriend within a ten mile radius away from me?"

All of his self-restraint breaks. "Mei, why don't _you _cut the bullshit? You can stop pretending now, because I know. I know what you to do to people I-"

"Oi, Miyuki! Is that you?" Hearing _that_ voice, Miyuki can feel his face pale and his stomach drop.

_Oh shit._

* * *

Haruichi told him that while Potions isn't a walk in the park now it could be million times harder if the professor hated him. So when the professor needed someone to grab something for him at the end of class, Sawamura happily volunteered. After all, if being in the professor's good graces is all it takes to keep from failing then he would do whatever it takes. He just wishes that "whatever it takes" didn't include have to look for this obscure, practically hidden, part of the castle to grab some ingredient for a potion the professor was trying out.

Sawamura, after finally his way through this goddamn maze of a school, finds himself in some empty hallway where every door looks the same and there are no labels telling him what might be in the rooms. He's almost about to cry in a frustration, when he sees someone up ahead. He gets a little closer and sees that the person has messy brown hair, like he just got out of bed. He'd know that hair anywhere.

"Oi, Miyuki! Is that you?" The person turns around and it's Miyuki, just like he thought.

He runs up to him. "Miyuki, I'm glad I found you! I need to find a storage section or something, can you help me? Wait, why are you even here? I didn't even know you knew about this-" he cuts himself off when he realizes two things: Miyuki's not alone and his face is really pale. Like sickly pale.

He has the decency to look sheepish. "Oh, sorry I didn't realize you were talking to somebody." He looks at the person and almost flinches. He's never been glared at by someone with such cold eyes. Come to think of it, there was something familiar about that boy.

"Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" he asks the boy.

"I doubt it. I can't imagine what would have to happen for _me_ to know _you_." The condescending tone in his voice and the way he looks at Sawamura like he's the dirt beneath his shoes really pisses Sawamura off.

"Mei!" Miyuki says so sharply Sawamura jumps. "Don't be rude."

"And why not? He just walks up and interrupts us while we're talking and you're yelling at me?" The fierce look he gives Miyuki jogs his memory.

"Ah!" His sudden yell makes both Miyuki and the boy wince. "I know who you are! You're the Seeker for the Slytherin team!"

How could ever forget? So far, they've only played Slytherin a couple scrimmages and there was only one Sawamura really got to play in. The Slytherin's Seeker may look small, but he was a monster. Hair so blonde it was almost white and aggressive blue eyes...Sawamura could never forget him. When he came in he thought he was doing pretty well. He even managed to get the Snitch away from the Seeker a couple of times. But the Seeker had this strong, overpowering aura around and when their eyes met it made Sawamura do the one thing he swore he'd never do: cower. He hesitated for one second, and that's all it took for the Seeker to snatch the Snitch away from him, ending the game in a Gryffindor loss. Sawamura was torn up about that game for weeks.

"Congratulations, you got it right. You can stop screaming." But then he really looked at Sawamura. "Wait. I know you too."

There was silence for a moment.

"You're the idiot seeker, aren't you?"

Sawamura turns red with anger. "Don't call me that!"

Mei would never say this aloud, but he has only just started to put this idiot out of his mind. To think this stupid fifth-year seeker who's only been on team for not even a year came this close to beating him, it was infuriating. Luckily, like with every Quidditch game it all came down to will. And if it was a battle of wills, then Mei could win easily. That didn't stop him from complaining to Carlos that whole week, saying but not really saying that that idiot could be kind of dangerous in the future.

Something about that memory jolted Mei. "Wait. 'I've got my hands full training the Seekers' you said? And the person is 'someone I would know'?" Kazuya just stares at him with blank eyes. "And isn't your boyfriend a loudmouth, Kazuya?"

Sawamura bristles. "What? First idiot, now loudmouth! I don't even know you and you've insulted me twice! What did I ever do to you?"

Out of nowhere, Miyuki grabs his wrist. He reflexively tries to pull away but Miyuki grips his wrist tight. "Sawamura, this is Narumiya Mei, my...childhood friend. Mei, this is Sawamura Eijun. My boyfriend."

The silence is completely and utterly crushing. For a second, Sawamura gets the urge to run.

"Your-"

"This was a good conversation, Mei, but unfortunately I've got Prefect duties. I'll talk to you later."

Quickly and effortlessly he drags Sawamura down the hallway, and Sawamura is filled with such relief that he doesn't even remember the task he was suppose to do for his Potions teacher.

As they disappear around the corner, Mei feels his mouth form a smile. "The idiot seeker, huh?"

Hands in pocket, he heads back to his own common room.

* * *

Sawamura scans the library bookshelves, looking for some books to help with his Transfiguration project. He looks at some titles, but honestly his mind is still on yesterday, whatever yesterday was.

When he tried to ask Miyuki about it he got completely shut down. "I'm sorry about Mei. He doesn't exactly disprove the Slytherin stereotype, huh?" Miyuki said, forcing out a chuckle.

"If he's your friend, why haven't I heard about him before? I didn't think you _had_ friends outside of Gryffindor. Come to think of it, you barely have friends _in_ Gryffindor."

"Hey!" Miyuki said, offended. But then he sighed. "Look, it's really not a big deal. I never mention him because it never really came up."

"What were you even talking about? It looked really serious."

Miyuki forced out another chuckle. "I've been busy with school and Quidditch so I haven't made the effort to hang out with him. He was just chewing me out for being a bad friend."

"That's it?"

"That's it. Really, Sawamura, it was nothing."

Sawamura nodded. "Okay."

Miyuki smiled. "Come on, let's head to the common room. I wanna relax a little before dinner."

These past few months Sawamura has seen many of Miyuki's smiles, each of them meaning a different thing. The one Miyuki gave him yesterday was something Sawamura hadn't seen in a while. It was Miyuki's false smile.

It's been eating Sawamura up inside since. Now he knows for sure that there's something troubling Miyuki. Something that he doesn't want to tell Sawamura about. _Doesn't he trust me? _Sawamura thinks. Immediately he shakes his head at the stupid thought. Of course Miyuki trusts him. But still, Miyuki is definitely hiding something. Why wouldn't Miyuki tell him if something was bothering him? He wants to be the person Miyuki turns to when he's worried about something. Hasn't he proven that he's here for Miyuki no matter what?

With thoughts like these swirling through his head Sawamura doesn't even notice someone beside him until he feels his fingers brush against his as he reaches for a book. He jumps back in surprise, then his eyes light up with recognition.

"White-haired Seeker!" he shouts in surprise.

"Shhh! God, do you have to yell all time? And my name is Narumiya!"

Sawamura frowns. Miyuki's friend or not, he doesn't like him very much. "Sorry, Narumiya. You can have the book if you want."

Narumiya smiles, but honestly it feels no different from a frown. "Actually, I'm glad I ran into you. I've been meaning to talk to you."

Even an idiot like Sawamura can tell that the likelihood of anything good coming from talking with Narumiya is pretty low. Before it occurs to him to make an excuse he just says, "No way."

"That's rude! You won't even listen to what I have to say?" Narumiya says innocently.

"You've been really rude to me so far. Why should I have to listen to you?"

And of course, Narumiya says the only thing that could sway him. "It's about Kazuya."

Next thing he knows he's being dragged into a room he's never seen before. It almost looks like a common room, with couches and tables and even a fireplace.

"Has Kazuya ever brought you here?" Narumiya asks as he settles down on a couch.

Sawamura sits on the couch across from him. "No, he hasn't. I'm not even sure what this room is."

The look on Narumiya's face is almost smug. "Kazuya's the one who showed it to me. This is the Room of Requirement. It's a secret room, and it changes into whatever the person who finds it needs. I've never seen it like this before, though. Usually when we use it, it's a bedroom."

"Why would it be a bedroom?"

Narumiya just moves on as if he didn't speak. "How much has Kazuya told you about me?"

Sawamura leans back against the couch with his arms crossed. "Not much. He just told me you were is childhood friend, that's all."

He sees Narumiya clench the couch cushion, just a little bit. "Of course he did. That's Kazuya, never telling the full story."

"Is there something you wanted to talk to me about or-"

"Yes." Narumiya leans forward. "Look, there's no easy to say this but...you need to break up with Kazuya."

Immediately Sawamura stands up. "I knew this would be a waste of time! I should've never let you talk me into coming here!" Sawamura turns away to leave but Narumiya grabs his arm.

"Just listen to me!" Narumiya pleads.

"Let go of me!" He struggles against Narumiya's ironclad grip.

"Has he been acting weird lately?" That makes Sawamura stop struggling. "He's quieter and it seems like he's always lost in his thoughts but he keeps insisting that he's fine?"

Sawamura turns to look at him. "What would you know about it?"

Narumiya sighs. "It's the same cycle with him. Kazuya's the type of person who doesn't like sharing his feelings with anyone, no matter close you get to him.

The look in Narumiya's eyes is almost sincere. "Kazuya didn't tell you everything, Sawamura. The truth is, Kazuya is my childhood friend but he's also my boyfriend. Or ex-boyfriend, I guess. Kazuya loves me, but he doesn't want to admit to me or himself. So he goes around dating girlfriend or boyfriend after girlfriend or boyfriend to prove he's over me, then breaks their hearts one after another when he realizes he's not. I'm tired of watching it happen. You seem like a nice person, I don't want to see you get hurt."

Sawamura pulls away roughly. "I don't believe you." he says in a voice so serious it almost scares Narumiya for a second. "If you were Miyuki's boyfriend, why wouldn't he just tell me that? You're a liar!"

Narumiya smiles cruelly. "Ask him then. Ask him, and see if he tells you the truth. And when he tells you that we did date, think about what else he could be lying to you about."

Again he feels the urge to flee. He doesn't want to hear Narumiya's voice. He doesn't want to believe the words he's saying. He turns and runs right out of the room. But that doesn't stop him from hearing Narumiya's voice call out, "If you don't do something you'll be the one who gets the most hurt, idiot Seeker."

Sawamura doesn't stop running.


	5. Chapter 5

Sawamura runs until he rams right into the very person who's causing all this distress.

"Watch where you're-oh it's just you." Upon recognizing him, Miyuki smirks. "Where are you headed to in such a hurry?"

Sawamura, breathing heavy, doesn't reply.

"Anyway, I just looking for you. There's still some time before dinner if you wanna-"

"Is it true?" Sawamura says between breaths.

"Is what? Sawamura, are you okay? You look a little pale." Miyuki moves forward, probably to comfort him or something, as Sawamura steps back.

"You and that white-haired bastard. Were you more than childhood friends? Did you-Did you used to go out with him?"

Miyuki hesitates, and that tells him all he needs to know.

Sawamura looks at him, distraught. "He was right. You were lying to me."

"He? Mei said something to you, didn't he?" Miyuki says flatly.

"I defended you and he was _right_."

"Look, Sawamura, I don't know what Mei told you but-"

"He told me the truth! And I didn't believe him, because I told myself I could trust you!"

"It wasn't like I was hiding it! I was just...waiting for the right time to tell you."

"I asked you about him, and you told me he was your friend. You said it was nothing!" Sawamura's voice raises.

"He is my friend! Look, this doesn't have to be a big deal. I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. You're right to be angry with me. You should've heard it from me first. But I want you to know there's nothing between me and Mei. That's all in the past." He reaches a hand out. "Sawamura, please."

Sawamura slaps his hand away. "If it wasn't a big deal you wouldn't have hid it!" he yells, and his voice echoes throughout the hallway. Then he deflates. "Sorry, I didn't mean to...just leave me alone. I need to be alone."

Sawamura can see Miyuki's heart breaking in two, but he can't take back his words now. He needs some time to sort out his thoughts, at least for today. He moves past him and runs ahead, vaguely hearing Miyuki's voice calls after him. He doesn't stop until he gets to the common room.

He bursts in, causing everyone to stop and stare at him. Sawamura blocks everyone's gazes and keeps walking. He's almost to the dorms when Haruichi stops him.

"Eijun-kun, are you okay? Did something happen?" Haruichi says, looking at him worriedly.

All he replies with is, "Don't let Miyuki come to the dorms. Tell him that I-I need some time to think." Without leaving room for question, Sawamura trudges up to the fifth-year dorms.

Haruichi turns to Furuya and says, "I'm gonna go with Eijun-kun. Make sure Miyuki-senpai gets that message." Furuya nods his head and Haruichi runs up after Sawamura.

A few minutes later Miyuki storms in, not stopping until he sees Furuya blocking the way to the fifth-year dorms.

"Move, Furuya."

"No." Furuya replies simply. Even the cat agrees, as it growls at Miyuki.

"I'm not joking. Move!" He tries to push past Furuya, but Furuya stops him.

"No. I don't know what happened, but Sawamura wants to be alone. Let him be alone." Furuya and Miyuki stare at each other for a few seconds. All conversation has ceased and watches the pair.

Finally, Miyuki turns around walks right out of the common room without another word. The conversation turns to what that was all about and how the Golden Couple might be in trouble. Kuramochi just shakes his head.

"What is it, You-chan?" Ryousuke asks.

"It's nothing just...I hate it when I'm right."

* * *

Kazuya has never been this furious in his life. All he knows as he storms out of the common room is that he's getting into the Slytherin common room, even if he has to break the door down.

He can still see wounded look in Sawamura's eyes and hear the sad tone in his voice as he says he wants to be alone. The memory intensifies his anger and quickens his feet, until he's right in front of the painting that leads to the Slytherin common room.

"Password." The woman in the painting says curtly.

"I need to speak with someone in there. Let me in."

"Password."

"I don't have the password. I won't be in there too long, I just really need to talk to someone in there. Please, let me in."

"Password."

"Forget the damn password!" Kazuya explodes. "I need to talk to Mei, and a painting isn't going to stop me from doing that."

"I'd refrain from speaking as if you have any right to enter, young Gryffindor." the painting says cooly. "If I blacklist you as an intruder, I'll do a lot worse than send you off with a warning."

Kazuya clenches his fists. Before he can do something stupid the bell rings for dinner. Shaking his head, he turns around and heads to the dining hall, glad for the interruption. He realizes that charging ahead in a fit of anger isn't going to work against Mei. Mei knows how to get out of slippery situations and how to change a person's point of view. If Kazuya's going to deal with him he has to be smart about it.

As the Slytherins file out their common room they all clamor about what that commotion was. They hadn't heard the painting argue with someone loud enough to be heard through the door for some time now. Shirakawa looks at Mei's smiling face suspiciously.

"What are you smiling about?" With Mei a smile rarely ever means something good.

"What, am I not allowed to be happy?" he responds innocently.

"Your happiness always comes at the cost of another's misfortune." It was one of the things he liked about Mei.

"You're so mean, Shirakawa! I was just thinking, Kazuya's become so much more passionate lately, you know?"

Shirakawa almost stops in his tracks. "Miyuki? What's Miyuki got to do with anything? Don't tell me you back together with him _again_."

"No, I haven't." Mei's smiles gets wider. "Not yet, anyway."

Shirakawa falls silent. He's decided to wash his hands of the whole Miyuki-Narumiya situation ever since he realized that everyone else is a toy to Mei, compared to Kazuya. Why Mei would like stuck up, arrogant bastard like Kazuya is beyond him, but it's none of his business anyway. It's one less headache to deal with.

Meanwhile at the Gryffindor table, everyone is hyper-aware of Sawamura's absence at dinner. Sawamura would never ever voluntarily skip a meal, which makes it clear that something is very, very wrong.

"Is Sawamura okay?" Toujou asks Haruichi.

Haruichi blushes at all the sudden attention from the people around him. "I don't know. He and Miyuki-senpai had a big fight, and I think he's still recovering from it." As if on cue, their attention shifts to the dark aura shadowing the other end of the table.

"Poor Sawamura-kun! It must hurt to fight with the person you love the most." Haruno says, head filled with maybe one too many shoujo mangas. She turns to her friends. "We should bring Sawamura-kun something back from dinner. To feed his aching heart!" Her friends nod eagerly.

"Um, anyway," Haruichi continues. "I'm sure he'll be fine. It's Eijun-kun, after all. He'll be back to normal in a few days."

Everyone murmurs in agreement. They couldn't imagine Sawamura being down in the dumps for so long.

At the other end of the table, no one dares to ask Kazuya what happened. The dark aura around him is so tangible it almost makes it hard to breathe. Kuramochi stares at Kazuya silently before opening his mouth to speak, only to be cut off.

"Don't, Kuramochi. I don't need you to tell how much I've screwed up. Believe me, I know."

Kuramochi turns away. "If you know then fix it. I won't forgive you if you hurt Sawamura like all those other people."

"Understood." Kazuya replies grimly. He gets up and heads to the dorms. It's not like he had much of an appetite anyway.

He rolls back and forth in bed, trying to will himself to fall asleep. Finally, he gives up and faces the ceiling. His head is filled with thoughts of Sawamura. Sawamura, the idiot. Sawamura, the spirit of the team, the spirit of Gryffindor even. Sawamura, his boyfriend. Or ex-boyfriend maybe, because how much he managed to screw up.

He thought that if he kept Sawamura and Mei completely separate from each other he'd be able to stop this relationship from falling apart like all of the others. Instead, the same thing happened and this time it was partly his fault too. Or maybe it's always been partly his fault. After all, Mei has been doing this for a while, as he's discovered recently. Even after Kazuya found out he never said anything. _Why didn't I ever say anything?_ Kazuya thinks. Reaching deep, deep down inside himself, he comes up with the answer. And once he does he sits up straight in bed. He knows what he needs to do.

* * *

Predictably, Mei avoids him for a couple of days. He waits for Mei to come out the classroom at the end of the day and grabs his wrist as he tries to keep walking.

"Running away, Mei?"

Mei grins at him. "Why would I do that? I've been waiting to talk to you all day."

They end up back at the same empty hallway. Unlike last time, Kazuya has no interest in beating around the bush. "What did you say to Sawamura?"

"What makes you think I said anything to him?"

Kazuya sighs. "It's pretty easy to guess what you said from his reaction, but I want to hear it from you."

Mei puts his hands up. "Okay, you caught me. I couldn't figure out why you would date someone like that, so I decided to talk to him and find out. I didn't realize you never told him we used to go out and it came up. He got really upset and left. That's all, I swear."

Everything Mei said is probably true. It just isn't the full story, and Kazuya knows it. He's watched Mei do this with other people, using half-truths and deceptive words to convince them of whatever he's saying. He never thought Mei would use it on him.

"Mei, I know. I know that you say things to people I'm dating, and that these things lead to them breaking up with me."

"Kazuya I-"

"You can deny it all you want, I won't believe you. I'd have to be stupid not wonder why I'm always getting dumped. Not to mention I've seen you doing it." He could never forget that day last year, when he saw Mei and his then-girlfriend talking, his girlfriend looking incredibly upset and storming off. The next day, she broke up with him. It was easy to connect the dots.

"I wasn't going to deny it." Mei says to Kazuya's surprise. "You have to understand, I do it for you."

"For me?"

Mei steps closer. "Yes, for you. We're friends, right? So as a good friend I want you to be with someone who deserves to be with you. If all it takes is a few words to send someone running, you wouldn't want to be with them anyway." Mei wraps his arms around Kazuya's neck. "I know I wouldn't run away because of a few words. I just want you to be happy, Kazuya." Mei moves his face closer, till their lips are almost inches apart.

"The thing is, Mei," Kazuya speaks up, pushing Mei back to an appropriate distance. "I don't think you do. Or at least, I don't think you want me to be happy if it's not with you."

Mei looks stricken. "How could you say that?"

"Because it's true."

"Kazuya-"

"Listen up, Mei. I've known that you've been doing this since last year and I still let happen. It took me till last night to even think about exactly _why_ I let it happen." He looks Mei dead in the eyes. "But I figured it out. The truth is, I resigned myself to the fact that nobody would love me more than you. You said it right? If someone really liked me, they wouldn't leave so easily because of a few words. Now I realize by giving up so easily and going back to you, I was proving exactly what you said, whatever you said to them. I realized that I was prepared to do this same cycle with you over and over again, because what I felt for all those people didn't compare to what I felt for you. Then I met Sawamura."

Mei narrows his eyes. "I don't get it. What's so special about that idiot Seeker?"

"It'd be easier if I could tell you that. All I know is, ever since I've been with him my life has been pretty exciting. Even when he's being an idiot he makes me so happy, it almost scares me. It scares me to think that I might be in love with him." Mei sucks in his breath sharply. "I was a coward, trying to keep the two of you away from each instead of approaching the issue." He laughs sadly. "Now he won't even talk to me."

"Sawamura makes me braver. That's why this time_ I'm_ gonna fight for this relationship." he continues. "Mei, you've been my best friend ever since we were kids. When my mom died and my dad got distant, you were the only one who was there for me. I haven't forgotten that. I don't want to lose you, but I don't think we're good as anything more than friends. If you can't handle friendship, then I'll respect that and keep my distance. But you can't keep chasing off the people I like. I won't forgive you if you do it again. So, the decision is yours."

Mei tries to keep his voice from shaking. "You really love him, then?"

Kazuya nods. "I think I do."

It's silent for a while. Mei stares into Kazuya's eyes, trying to gauge how serious he is. He sees there's nothing hesitant or indecisive about Kazuya's gaze. He's serious about this.

Mei looks away. "I don't want to lose you either, Kazuya. So I guess...I guess I'll try to be a better friend."

"Prove it. Tell Sawamura the truth."

Mei hesitates, then nods. "Okay."

Kazuya grins. "Thanks, Mei." Saying everything he needed to say Kazuya departs with a goodbye and walks down the hallway with purpose. After all, there's still one more thing he needs to do.

Only after Kazuya turns the corner does Mei allow the tears to run down his face. "Even if you don't believe me, I'm glad you're happy, Kazuya. Even if it's not with me."

Wiping his face, Mei walks down the hallway with a new sense of purpose as well.

* * *

Sawamura slumps down into his seat at breakfast. He ignores the worried glances being sent his way and takes a few tentative bites of his eggs.

"How are you feeling this morning, Eijun-kun?" Haruichi asks, careful not to upset Sawamura.

It makes Sawamura sad. It's not like he wants everyone walking on eggshells around him. He plasters on a smile and says, "I feel fine, Harucchi. Sorry for worrying you guys."

The smile is obviously fake, but Haruichi tries to forge ahead . "U-Um, have you talked to Miyu-"

"Harucchi, can I see your Herbology homework? I forgot to do it last night." Sawamura says, cutting in smoothly.

Haruichi sighs and says, "Okay, let me grab it out of my bag." _Eijun-kun still isn't ready to talk about it, I guess. _Haruichi thinks. When he followed Sawamura up the dorms a couple days ago Sawamura said the bare minimum. He kept repeating that he was fine and that he and Miyuki had a fight and that he just wanted to be alone. It's definitely clear now that Sawamura is less than fine. Whatever happens, he hopes that Sawamura and Miyuki work it out. Sawamura always looks happier when he's with Miyuki(when they're not yelling at each other, that is).

Haruichi looks up. "Isn't that your owl, Eijun-kun?" Because of all the technology advancements, owl usage has lessened considerably over the years. After all, it's easier to send a text than write a letter. However, sending texts between the Wizarding world and Muggle world is still a little iffy, so most half-bloods still have owls.

Sawamura looks up as well. "It must be my mom. She's probably gonna nag me about my grades again!"

Sawamura's owl drops an envelope on the table and lands on Sawamura's shoulder. "Good job, Ryuu!" He pets the owl gently.

After Ryuu takes off he opens the letter. After reading the first line he drops his fork and stands up abruptly.

"Is everything alright?" Haruichi asks.

Sawamura puts on another fake smile. "Yep, everything is fine! Harucchi, Furuya, I'm gonna head straight to Charms."

"What? But you haven't even finished your breakfast!"

"I'm not hungry. I'll see you guys later!" He dashes away before he can be questioned even further.

Despite his best efforts to ignore him, he feel Miyuki's burning gaze follow him all the way out the dining hall.

When he gets far enough he slides down the hallway wall. Hands shaking, he opens the letter again, this time reading it fully. It read: _Sawamura, I know you don't want to speak to me, so I wrote you a letter instead. I know that I really messed up, lying to you about Mei. I could try explain why I was lying for the right reasons or that I had the best intentions, but I know you won't listen to that. So I'm gonna say this instead. Sawamura, I'm not giving up on this. On _us_. I understand that you want space, so I'll leave you alone. Whenever you wanna talk, I'll be there. You can trust me on that. I'll wait as long as it takes. _Miyuki ends the note on that, not even signing his name.

The letter almost makes Sawamura laughs. For such a cool person Miyuki can be really dramatic sometimes. It sounds like a letter from a overseas soldier, not a teenage boy. More than making him laugh the letter also makes his chest feel tight. He keeps reading that last over and over again: _I'll wait as long as it takes._ Now he feels more lost than before.

He keeps telling himself that it's not a big deal that Miyuki didn't tell him about his and Narumiya's relationship. But every time he thought that a voice in his head, Narumiya's voice, said _Think of what else he could be lying to you about._ Could it be true? Could Miyuki really still be in love with Narumiya? _No!_ Sawamura shakes his head. If he's still in love with Narumiya, why would he send Sawamura this letter? Miyuki even says that he's not giving up on this relationship. That means that he's the one Miyuki likes, right? Then why did he lie about Narumiya? If there's really nothing between them then it wouldn't have been a big deal to tell him, right? Sawamura puts his head in his hands. Thinking about all of this is making his head hurt.

"Eijun-kun?"

Sawamura looks up to see Haruichi and Furuya towering over him. "Oh, it's you guys. What are you doing here?"

"Breakfast just ended." Furuya tells him. Sawamura notices that more people are in the hallway and headed to their classes.

"I thought you were going to Charms?" Haruichi says in that worried tone he's been using a lot lately.

"I am going to Charms! I was just...waiting for you guys!" He stands up with dignity. "Let's go. The professor will kill us if we're late."

"I wonder if he'll ever go back to normal?" Haruichi thinks out loud as they watch Sawamura stomp down the hallway.

"It's Sawamura. He was never normal." Furuya replies.

Haruichi smiles at him and they both speed up to catch with Sawamura.

In class, Sawamura remembers that night he and Miyuki snuck out, before everything went downhill. Miyuki asked him if he liked him, and even now his answer still remains the same. As mad as he is at Miyuki he still really, really likes him. _I meant it when I said that my feelings would never change, _Sawamura thinks._ But what am I supposed to do if your feelings change, Miyuki? I don't think I could handle watching you and that guy be together. _All in all, it comes down to how strongly he feels about Miyuki.

So he thinks about it.

He thinks about it during class. He thinks about it during lunch. He thinks about it during Quidditch practice. He thinks about as he runs laps as punishment for thinking about it during Quidditch. He thinks about it for a couple of days, and he knows what he's gonna do.

He needs to talk to Miyuki.

* * *

He's talking to Kuramochi when he feels someone tap his shoulder. He turns around, and the shock leaves him at a loss for words.

"We need to talk." Sawamura says, not looking at him.

Kazuya nods and follows him out of the room.

They go outside and Kazuya finds his voice. "Sawamura, I-"

"Wait, Miyuki. Let me say what I need to say, alright?

He clenches his fists and says, "Okay." Because he told himself he was gonna play by Sawamura's rules, even if he didn't like it. Still, a part of him is deathly afraid that Sawamura's about to break up with him. He doesn't know how he'll begin to recover from that, so he prays that Sawamura is willing to hear him out.

Sawamura takes a deep breath. "First off, I'm not as big of an idiot as you think I am. I don't believe everything that guy told me, but he was right about you hiding something from me. Once he was right about that, I couldn't stop thinking that everything else he was saying might be true too. It really hurt to think you might be using me or something."

Kazuya feels like he has to say something. "It's not-"

"Let me say this! I decided that...that I don't care!"

"What?" He can't believe what he's hearing.

"I mean, of course I care!Wait, I'm not saying this right." Kazuya knows this isn't exactly the right time, but he can't help but think about how cute Sawamura's flustered expression is. "I like you a lot, Miyuki! I just want you to be happy! So if you're completely, a hundred percent in love with that white-haired bastard, then you should be with him. But if you're not a hundred percent, then I think-I think you should stay with me. Maybe it's different for you, but I've been really happy since we started dating. I don't know, whatever you wanna-what the hell are you doing?"

Kazuya envelopes Sawamura in a tight hug. "Can I say something now?"

"S-Sure."

"You know, no one's ever said anything like that to me before," he says, holding Sawamura closer. "Only you."

"Well, sorry." Sawamura pouts.

"Don't apologize. That's what I like about you. I like _you_, Sawamura. I'm not using you or anything like that. I haven't thought of Mei like that in a long time, ever since I met you. If you're asking me to make a choice, I choose _you_."

Sawamura pulls back a little to stare at him. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Sawamura's eyes brighten and he pulls Kazuya back in for another hug. Kazuya tightens his arms around him and thinks about how long it's been since they were this close._ It feels like it's been forever. I almost thought I lost this. Never again. _

"I really missed you, idiot." Sawamura says.

Kazuya chuckles softly. "I missed you too." _Don't you get it, Sawamura? I love you. _He's too much of a coward to say it. Being by Sawamura's side, though, he knows he'll be able to say it one day.

Sawamura pulls back again. "Don't lie to me, alright? I'll be seriously pissed if you do this again."

"Don't worry, I won't. The only reason I lied this was because I thought it'd scare you off if you knew. Obviously, I was wrong."

Sawamura snorts. "Obviously."

"I'll tell you anything you want to know about Mei now, if you want."

He thinks it over. "No thanks. I'd rather not think about that guy right now."

Kazuya smiles. "So we're good?"

Sawamura smiles back at him. "We're good."

Kazuya feels like he's floating on air.

After a few minutes of staring and smiling at each other, Kazuya looks around at where they are, surprised to see that it looks kind of familiar.

"Wait, is this the courtyard?" Now that he thinks about it, he's only ever seen this place at night.

Sawamura's face colors a little. "Yeah, it is. It was the only place I could think of where we could be alone."

Kazuya smirks at him. "You're much more of a romantic than I expected you to be."

Sawamura gives him a look. "I just forgave you. Don't make me regret it."

* * *

When Miyuki and Sawamura walk into the common room holding hands, everyone bursts into applause and cheers.

Sawamura sees Kuramochi give Miyuki a thumbs-up and rolls his eyes. "Jeez, they make a big deal out of everything!" he mumbles to Miyuki.

Miyuki looks over at him, and he looks really, really happy. And seeing Miyuki look that happy makes him happy too. _Well, whatever._ Sawamura thinks. He's willing to go through a little embarrassment, as long as it's with Miyuki.

* * *

**EXTRA:**

"...and again I'm really sorry if my words hurt your relationship with Kazuya in any way." Narumiya grumbles.

"Wow, great apology. Can I go now?" Somehow he let himself get forced into hearing Narumiya out again, despite the memory of the last time he let that happen still being fresh in his mind.

"Fine, go! Let the record show I did what Kazuya asked _and_ apologized."

Sawamura crosses his arms. "I don't understand. After all the hard work you did to destroy my relationship, why stop now? Because Miyuki asked you to?"

Narumiya laughs mockingly. "You're even more stupid than I thought. Like I'd actually apologize to you for any reason except because of Kazuya."

"You really like Miyuki, don't you?" Sawamura lets this realization wash over him like cold water. He already knows that Narumiya likes Miyuki enough to care about who he dates. He didn't think Miyuki had that much power over him, though.

"I love him." The fact that he can say that so easily without even blushing makes Sawamura boil with envy. "That's why I'm trying to be a good friend this time, and why I'm warning you now. You better treat Kazuya right. The minute you mess up, I'll be there to comfort him."

Maybe it should make him angry that Narumiya blatantly said that he wasn't giving up on Miyuki, but Sawamura just takes that as a challenge.

He grins fiercely. "Thanks for the heads up!"

Like he'd ever lose to Narumiya.


	6. Chapter 6

"Is there a reason why Sawamura look like a zombie?" Kanemaru asks as he sits down at the table for breakfast.

Sawamura's head is down on the table. His face is pale and his eyes are bloodshot and his only movements are only short twitches. "Makeup work. So much makeup work." he mumbles.

"What Eijun-kun means to say is he's on academic probation." Haruichi explains helpfully. "If he didn't turn in all his makeup work by the deadline he would've been suspended from all extracurricular activites, including Quidditch."

All of a sudden Sawamura shoots up. "Don't say those horrible words, Harucchi!"

"Sorry. Sawamura stayed up all night finishing those assignments, which is why he looks so dead now."

"Hey!" Sawamura shouts indignantly. "Sorry that my studies are more important to me than my looks!"

"Says the person on academic probation." Furuya says.

"You bastard!" Sawamura grabs the front of Furuya's shirt.

"I'll pick up the slack while you're off the team."

"I'm not off the team yet! And I'm not gonna let you hog all the spotlight!" This leads to an intense stare-off, something that was typical with the two rival Seekers.

Sawamura doesn't break eye contact, not even when he hears someone repeatedly calling his name.

Then he feels someone poke him in the back. "Sawamura, it's not nice to ignore people." says a familiar voice.

He turns arounds and there's Miyuki, casually parked on the seat next to him. "What's up with you? You look awful!" Miyuki says bluntly.

That comment earns him a hit on the head. "Ow, Sawamura! That really hurt!" Miyuki says, rubbing his head.

"You deserved it." Sawamura replies. They've been dating for a month and somehow Miyuki still manages to be a real asshole. For whatever reason, though, Sawamura still likes him.

"What do you want anyway?"

Miyuki grins. "So cold! Maybe I just wanted to see you, that's all!"

Sawamura stares at him.

"Okay, okay! I wanted to tell you that I have some stuff to take care of, so I'll meet up with you at Hogsmeade later. I don't want to spoil anything, but I've got a surprise for you."

"A surprise?" That kind of worried Sawamura. Miyuki's surprises were rarely ever good.

"Yep, but that's all I'm gonna say about it. I'll see you later." He kisses Sawamura on the cheek, which makes him blush and Miyuki smile. "I can't wait to eat your chocolate." he says lowly, just for Sawamura to hear.

He rubs his cheek as he watches Miyuki walk away when Miyuki's words start to register. "Wait, what did he mean by chocolate?" he thinks out loud.

"I didn't think you had any time to buy Valentine's chocolate, but you still did it." Haruichi smiles brightly at him. "That's really sweet of you, Eijun-kun."

"What do you mean, Valentine's chocolate?"

"...You do know today is Valentine's Day, right?"

"What?!" Sawamura shouts. The people around him collectively groan. "That can't be today! If today was Valentine's Day, I would know!"

Haruichi looks around the room, which makes Sawamura do the same thing. The dining hall is decorated with red and pink streamers and mini hearts floating in the air. He now notices that fruit punch is served with breakfast instead of orange juice. When he looks down at his plate, he sees two heart-shaped waffles.

"I thought the waffles looked weird." he says after a moment of silence.

"Speaking of chocolates," Toujou cuts in. He digs around in his bag and pulls out a small sack of chocolate. He turns to Kanemaru. "Happy Valentine's Day, Shinji!"

Kanemaru's face turns red as a tomato. "For me?"

Toujou nods. "Of course! I decided to make chocolate for all my friends this year!" He digs around in his bag again. "Here's yours, Haruichi. Hold on, I'll get yours next, Eijun." Toujou doesn't seem to notice Kanemaru dying next to him.

Sawamura digs his hands into his hair. "What am I gonna do? Miyuki's got this big surprise and I don't have anything for him!"

"It's not a big deal. Just buy him something from Honeydukes." Kanemaru tells him.

"Buying chocolate the day of Valentine's? You're so unromantic, Shinji!" Toujou says jokingly, stabbing Kanemaru in the heart for the second time.

"I don't have any money. I spent the rest of it on something important."

"You mean manga." Furuya chimes in.

"Shut up!"

Haruno appears suddenly carrying many bags of chocolate in her arms. She dumps a few on the table. "Here, guys! The managers and I made chocolate for the entire Quidditch team."

They each take a bag and eat the chocolate inside. "Wow, Haruno-chan, this is really good!" Haruichi says. They all nod in agreement.

"Really? Thanks, you guys!" she says brightly. "I still have a bunch of chocolate left to give out, so I'll see you guys later."

Seeing her gives Sawamura an idea. "I know! I'll just make some chocolate for Miyuki. It'll be more special that way, being homemade and all."

"I didn't know you know you knew how to make chocolate." Toujou remarks.

That makes Sawamura pause. "Um, I don't actually." Another collective sigh.

"I can help you if you want, Eijun-kun. I was planning on making chocolate, anyway." That catches Furuya's attention.

"You know how to make chocolate, Harucchi?"

He nods. "Yep, my mom taught me." Haruichi stands up. "The kitchen should be empty, but we'd better go now."

Sawamura stands up quickly. "Yes, sir!"

* * *

Kazuya peeks around the corner before breathing in relief and walking around. _I can't let my guard down, even on Valentine's Day_. Kazuya thinks. After he finished helping out the teacher he accidentally ran into Shirakawa, who sarcastically told him that Mei was looking for him. Whether they were dating or not, Mei and Kazuya always exchanged chocolates. This year he forgot, mainly because his head's been filled with thoughts of Sawamura. It's not like he can tell Mei that, not to mention that he's pretty sure Mei's is starting to think that Kazuya's avoiding him(which he is, but it's better if Mei doesn't know that). If Kazuya avoids him on this day of all days, then Mei will definitely start to get suspicious. Then Kazuya might actually have to deal with this situation.

_Should I go see him? We are friends. It wouldn't be that big of a deal to just pick up some chocolate and give it to him. _Except it would be a big deal. He doesn't want Mei to get the wrong idea. Plus, giving Valentines to anyone other than your boyfriend, especially your ex-boyfriend, would be hard to defend no matter what side you look at. The last thing he wants to do is hurt Sawamura. Shaking his head, he clears those thoughts from his mind. _It's the most romantic day of the year. All I want to do is spend it with Sawamura._ Thinking that made Kazuya want to hurry up and get off campus.

Suddenly there's a tap on his shoulder. "Miyuki!"

He jumps. "Oh, it's just you Kuramochi. You scared me." he says.

Kuramochi squints at him. "What's up with you? I called your name a million times."

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What are you even doing here anyway?"

The question incites an instant wave of anger from Kuramochi. "Because it's fucking Valentine's Day there's no safe place on or off campus! Couples are all over Hogsmeade, the common room, and basically every empty hallway. So I'm trying to find a place to breathe."

Kazuya feels a smirk coming on. "Alone on Valentine's? Don't be sad, I'm sure you can find someone to keep you company. Speaking of which, where's Ryou-san?"

Whether Kuramochi goes red in embarrassment or anger, Kazuya doesn't know. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing, nothing."

Kuramochi opens his mouth, probably for an angry retort, when a loud vibrating noise interrupts him. Kuramochi takes out his phone, widens his eyes at whatever popped up on the screen, and sends a quick text back.

Kazuya, wearing his full Cheshire Cat grin, asks, "Who was that?"

Kuramochi refuses to look at him. "Ryou-san wanted to know if I was up for playing videogames in the common room, one on one. I guess he kicked everyone else out."

Kazuya laughs. "Remind me why I let you give me romantic advice?"

Naturally, Kuramochi punches him. "Shut up! Anyway, why aren't you polluting the air with the other couples? Don't tell me Bakamura dumped up on Valentine's?"

"Haha, very funny. I just need to grab my gift from my room and then I'm meeting up with him." He tries to act cool, but the soft look on his face betrays him. He can't wait to see Sawamura.

"Ugh, save that mushy look for Sawamura."

Kazuya laughs and wraps an arm around him. "Aw, don't be jealous! I'm sure Ryou-san might surprise you with some chocolate of his own."

Kuramochi shakes him off. "Yeah, right. Why would Ryou-san get me chocolate? It's not like we're dating or anything."

"Or anything, huh?" Kazuya says smugly.

Another hit. "I wouldn't be too cocky if I were you, Miyuki," Kuramochi says, shaking out his hand. "Knowing that idiot, he probably didn't even get you anything."

"You underestimate Sawamura too much," he says confidently. "I'm sure he thought about this more than I did. He might even have a surprise for me!"

"Yeah, yeah."

On the other side of the castle, Sawamura sneezes.

* * *

"Eijun-kun, be careful not to-"

"Ow!"

"-burn yourself."

Haruichi sighs as Sawamura drops the tray on the counter and blows on his burnt fingers. _Well, at least we didn't burn down the kitchen or the chocolate. Actually, the chocolates turned out pretty good!_ Haruichi looks at his perfectly baked chocolates and Sawamura's slightly misshapen ones. _Well, mostly good._

"I did it! It was hell but I did it!" Sawamura cheers. "Miyuki's not gonna know what hit him!"

Haruichi hands him the bags for the chocolate."You know, if you told Miyuki-senpai why you forgot to get him chocolate I'm sure he would've understood."

At first, he doesn't think Sawamura hears him, since he's too busy being enraptured by the bag's changing patterns from hearts to stripes to polka dots(even though he's been going to Hogwarts for years Sawamura still gets amazed by magic), but then he speaks up.

"I know it's not a big deal and Miyuki would've understood but, I don't know, I still wanted to do something for him." Sawamura quietly admits. "It's my first time ever seriously dating someone. And it's Miyuki. Maybe it's stupid, but I feel like it's important I give him something today, even if it's just weird looking chocolate."

Haruichi is stunned silent for a second, which makes Sawamura chuckle nervously. "Sorry, I'm not making any sense."

"No, no, I understand." It almost makes Haruichi laugh. _Eijun-kun only thinks of two things: Quidditch and Miyuki-senpai. _

"Hey, Harucchi, can I ask you a question?"

"Um, sure." He's taken aback by the sudden subject change.

"Who're the bags for?" Sawamura asks, pointing to the two neatly tied up candy bags sitting on the counter.

Haruichi picks up one of the bags. "Well, this one is for Kuro-chan!" he says cheerfully.

"Kuro-chan? Why does sound fami-wait. Are you talking about Furuya's stupid cat?"

"Yes, Kuro-chan. And you shouldn't call her stupid! That's why she doesn't like you."

"I don't care if that damn cat likes me! I haven't forgotten the time she almost clawed my face off." Sawamura shudders at the memory. "It really hurt!"

"She's really nice if you're gentle with her."

"I don't know how to be gentle with the devil!" Sawamura shakes his head. "What about the second bag?"

"T-The second bag?" Haruichi repeats nervously. He hoped all the Kuro talk would've distracted him from the second bag.

"Yeah, the second bag. Who's that for?"

"Well, it's-it's for, uh, it's for-Eijun-kun, look at the time!" Haruichi says suddenly, pointing to the clock. "Aren't you meeting up with Miyuki-senpai? He's probably looking for you now."

It's a weak diversion, but Sawamura falls for it. "What? Ah, you're right! I'll see you later, Haruichi, thanks for your help!" Sawamura grabs his chocolate bag and dashes off in a hurry.

Haruichi sighs. _I'm sorry, Eijun-kun. I'm still too embarrassed to tell you._ He thought that maybe Sawamura picked up on his not so subtle crush, especially considering all the time all three of them spend together, but apparently not.

Grabbing his two bags, Haruichi heads for the common room.

Furuya is dozing off with Kuro in front the door to the common room when he hears a familiar voice.

"Furuya-kun?" He'd know that soft-spoken voice anywhere. Furuya opens his eyes to check and it's Haruichi, standing right in front him. Kuro opens her eyes too and jumps up at the sight of Haruichi. She rushes over to him and rubs up against his legs.

"Haruichi? What are you doing here?" Furuya says between Haruichi coos of "Hi, Kuro-chan!" and "Did you miss me?".

"I could ask you the same question. Why aren't you in the common room?"

He rubs his eyes and yawns. "Your brother kicked me out so he and Kuramochi-senpai could play videogames."

Furuya heavily protested his removal, especially since all he wanted to do was sleep on the couch.

"Go to your room if you want to sleep." Ryousuke had said.

"I like sleeping on the couch better."

"I need the room to myself."

"I won't bother you."

Ryousuke smiled. "Alright, Furuya. I'm in a good mood, so I'll give you two options. One, you take your cat and calmly walk out. Two, I'll drag you outside. The decision is yours."

Needless to say, he sat outside with Kuro.

"He really kicked everyone out? Sorry about that. Aniki is kind of aggressive when it comes to Kuramochi-senpai." Haruichi reassures him.

"Why are you here? I thought you were helping Sawamura out." Furuya considered going with them to the kitchen, but decided against it. He'd rather be kept in the dark about who Haruichi's making chocolate for then come to terms with the fact that there's someone out there that Haruichi cares out enough to make them chocolate. And that, of course, that person isn't him.

"We just finished. Speaking of that," He pulls a bag out from his messenger bag and crouches down.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Kuro-chan!" It's a bag of chocolate. Haruichi made Kuro a bag of chocolate.

Kuro has literal hearts in her eyes. Haruichi opens the bag for her and she digs in eagerly, meowing happily. "I'm so glad you like it! Don't worry, Furuya-kun, they're chocolate-flavored cat treats."

Furuya can barely hear him. He doesn't know whether to be happy that Haruichi's special person is Kuro or angry that he has to compete with his cat for Haruichi's affections. He peeks at Kuro, who's being petted by Haruichi. She turns back and looks at him, and Furuya swears she has a smug look on her face. He recognizes the stinging burn of jealousy.

"Hello? Furuya-kun?" Haruichi waves a hand in front of his face.

"Huh? What?"

Haruichi stands up. "Are you okay? You seem quieter than usual."

Furuya stands up too. "I'm fine."

Silence.

The longer the silence stretches on, the more Haruichi starts to fidgets. A part of Furuya wants to invite him to go to the Three Broomsticks, just to hang out. But he knows he shouldn't. Today is another reminder that Haruichi will never feel the same way about him, no matter how much he wants him to. If he wants to get over Haruichi, he can't hang out with him today. So Furuya stays silent.

"Um, Furuya-kun!" Haruichi finally says, and loudly at that. It makes him jump.

"Yes?"

Haruichi's face is really, really red, which confuses Furuya. "Haruichi?"

Haruichi is silent for a few seconds. "Furuya-kun I-I made you-here!" he says suddenly. He shoves something into Furuya's hands. Furuya looks down.

It's chocolate.

It's sweet-smelling, homemade chocolate that Haruichi made just for him. Or he thinks he did.

"Did you make anyone else chocolate?" Furuya asks, point-blank.

Haruichi looks surprised at the question. So surprised, he answers honestly. "No, only you." He lets the answer hang in the air before realizing his mistake and following it up quickly with, "And Kuro-chan of course! After all, it wouldn't be fair to only make treats for her and nothing for you-"

But it's too late, Furuya has tuned him out, only hearing the words, 'Only you' over and over again. He feels himself start to hope again.

Furuya grabs Haruichi's shoulders. "Haruichi. Let's go to Honeydukes. I'll buy you chocolate."

Haruichi starts fidgeting again beneath his palms."You don't have to do that."

"I want to. Come on, let's go. We can stop by the Three Broomsticks after." Furuya pulls Haruichi down the hallway despite his protests. If he tries hard enough, Furuya can pretend this is a date.

Little does he know, Haruichi is doing the same thing.

* * *

Sawamura looks all over the place for Miyuki, when he realizes that they never set up a meeting spot.

_Stupid Miyuki!_ Sawamura curses in his head as he stops to catch his breath. _Now how am I supposed to find you?_

He pulls out his phone to text Miyuki, when someone whispers "Boo." right in his ear.

"Holy crap!" Sawamura leaps back. He hears the sound of Miyuki's laughter behind him. "Miyuki, what the hell?" He barely has time to hide his chocolate in his hoodie pocket.

Miyuki's still snickering. "You should've seen your face."

"I was looking for you, you bastard!" Sawamura says, grumpy. Miyuki never misses a chance to tease him.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll be serious now." His laughter settles into a gentle smile. "Come on, let's go somewhere more private."

They end up at an empty trail. Sawamura is a little nervous about his chocolate so he says, "You go first."

"A little eager, aren't we?" Miyuki says, chuckling. "I wanted to go first anyway."

Miyuki takes out a huge box. "Here. It's your favorite, right?"

Sawamura takes a closer look at the box and discovers it a jumbo pack of Chocolate Frogs. He's never seen anything more perfect. "Wow, Miyuki! Where did you get this?"

"I have a friend who has a friend."

"This is the best surprise I've ever gotten! I mean, other than finding out I was a wizard." Sawamura looks up at him with bright eyes. "Thank you, Miyuki."

That earnest look makes Miyuki feel a little embarrassed. "Jeez Sawamura, you're so easy to please. That isn't even the surprise."

"It isn't? What's the surprise then?" He reminds Miyuki of an excited puppy.

Miyuki pulls out his wand. He takes a deep breath and prays this will work.

In a deep, strong voice he says,_ "Flora Augmentum!" _A bouquet of beautiful roses appears in thin air and lands in Miyuki's hands.

"_This_ is your surprise," he says as he hands Sawamura the flowers. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Sawamura's wondering gaze makes Miyuki's breath stop short. "Whoa, Miyuki. When'd you learn how to do stuff like that?"

"It wasn't easy. You need strong magic to make things appear out of thin air, so I had to practice for weeks. But seeing your face now makes it all worth it. Did you like it?" A stupid question but he asks it anyway.

"Of course I liked it! That was really really cool. It was almost like you were Houdini or something!"

"Like I was Hou-what?"

The confused look on Miyuki's face makes Sawamura burst out laughing. In moments like these Sawamura remembers how much of a pureblood Miyuki is. It constantly amazes him how little Miyuki knows outside of the Wizarding World.

"It's nothing, Miyuki. Just a Muggle thing." he says in between giggles.

"I'll add that to the growing list of confusing Muggle things. Anyway, it's my turn." Miyuki looks at him expectantly. "Where's my chocolate?"

Sawamura stiffens. Compared to Miyuki's gifts his tiny bag of chocolate seems like dirt. He thinks about telling Miyuki that he forgot to get him chocolate but immediately rejects the idea. He'd rather give Miyuki crappy chocolate than no chocolate.

He pulls the bag out of his pocket. "It's not as fancy as your chocolate but here. Happy Valentine's Day."

"You made me chocolate?" Miyuki says, looking at the bag in disbelief.

He looks at the ground. "Yeah, I did."

Miyuki didn't know what to say. "Wow, Sawamura. No one's ever made me chocolate before. I guess you win for best surprise."

That makes Sawamura's head snap up. "What are you talking about? It's not that big a deal."

"Can I try one now?" Sawamura really doesn't want to see Miyuki's reaction to his chocolate, but he finds himself not being able to say no.

"O-Okay." he says simply.

Miyuki unties the ribbon and takes out a piece of chocolate. Without hesitating, he sticks it in his mouth._ This is the weirdest chocolate I've ever tasted._ _Somehow, he managed the chocolate too bitter yet too sweet._ Miyuki thinks. He peers at Sawamura. Sawamura is still looking at the ground, shuffling the leftover snow on the ground with his foot. He thinks about Sawamura baking the chocolate, maybe burning himself a few times, and putting it in a pretty bag, all for him.

"It tastes really good, Sawamura." The expression on Sawamura's face almost makes him laugh.

"Really?"

"Really." Miyuki smirks and ruffles his hair. "Why didn't you tell me you could cook? You'll make a good housewife someday."

Sawamura shakes him off. "Stop it, Miyuki! And don't call me a housewife!"

Miyuki pulls him in close and kisses him. Sawamura immediately wraps his arms around Miyuki, vaguely noticing as the flowers and box drop out of his hands. Feeling Miyuki's tongue slide into his mouth, he can't be bothered to care.

All and all, it's a good Valentine's.


	7. Chapter 7

Sawamura notices Miyuki sneaking out of the common room after dinner.

It hasn't been the first time he noticed Miyuki sneaking out. In fact, he's seen Miyuki sneaking out a lot lately, which made him curious. The whole Gryffindor class would walk back to their dorms in one large mass, laughing and shoving each other. Some would go straight up to bed while others would chill in the common room till light outs. Most of the Quidditch team is part of the latter half, staying up to read about new techniques or preparing for their next match. Ryou and Kuramochi snuck in some brooms a while back, so they spend the time seeing how much they can practice new techniques without making a lot of noise.

He's laying on the couch while Furuya attempts to practice the Wronski Feint when he sees Miyuki do the same old routine he's been doing for weeks. He walks in, joking around with Kuramochi or something, then watches and comments on whatever hilarity is going on around him. After staying a few minutes to make his presence known, he slips out. No one ever notices that he's not there anymore, or at least they never mention it. Once Sawamura saw it, he couldn't unsee it.

It makes him burn up inside, wondering what Miyuki's doing. He doesn't even know why he cares. Miyuki is just the stupid Keeper of the Gryffindor team who makes it his life's mission to piss Sawamura off at every turn. Why should he care that bastard goes? He keeps telling himself that, but that doesn't stop his eyes from following Miyuki every time he leaves.

Everything about Miyuki has been weirding out lately. At least, that's the only way he can describe it. Sawamura has had a vague knowledge of Miyuki since he was a third-year, and has talked to him since he was a fourth-year. During the course of these years Sawamura can always firmly describe his feelings for Miyuki as one of prominent dislike, but begrudging admiration. But now, he doesn't feel like that anymore. Now, he isn't sure what he feels.

Take for instance, two days. Him and Miyuki stayed back after practice to work on his flying. Miyuki enchanted a couple of golf balls to fly around like a regular Snitch would, and corrected Sawamura on his broom grip and balance.

"No one cares how many fancy tricks you do," Miyuki told him straight up. "The game ends only when the Snitch is caught. If you can't catch it, then you're useless."

Before, Miyuki's blunt, no nonsense talks irked him to no end. But after playing in a few (not many but a few) Sawamura had come to respect them, hell, request them. Sawamura knew Miyuki would never lie when it came to Quidditch. In the same way, Sawamura would tolerate anything when it came to Quidditch. Since it was like that, staying back in the arena together became the only place they could interact with each other without their mutual annoyance of each other getting in the way. And for Sawamura, it was the only place he got a peek at the _real _Miyuki.

From high up, Sawamura spotted a flying golf ball that was way below him. Applying Miyuki's corrections, he flew down smoothly with one hand and caught the ball with the other, coming smoothly to land in front of Miyuki.

"Well? Well?" he says expectantly, like an excited puppy. "How was that?"

"Sawamura." Miyuki's eyes were wide and his mouth was almost hanging open. "That dive was a perfect arc _and_ it was one-handed. And you still caught the ball."

Sawamura didn't know how to respond. Miyuki had never praised him like _that _before, eyes staring at him in amazement. He felt his skin prickling uncomfortably.

"Uh, thanks. I just...did it." he responded lamely.

Miyuki ruffled his hair and smiled wide, the complete opposite of his usual snarky grin. "If you keep "just doing" that, you may have a real shot of being the ace someday."

Miyuki's smile and the way his hand felt softly brushing through his hair-it was all too much! Sawamura, mind completely blank on how to react, smacked Miyuki's hand away and yelled, "G—Goodbye!" and ran away.

He doesn't know when things inside in brain got so complicated, but he wishes it would stop. All it does is make him confused, and it makes it hard to be around Miyuki. So again, he tells himself that what Miyuki does is none of his business and he doesn't care, because he doesn't even like that bastard.

His heart twinges at the words.

* * *

_That's it, I can't take it anymore! _Sawamura thinks. At the sight of Miyuki slipping out the door _again, _Sawamura snaps. Before he knows what he's doing he stands up abruptly.

"Eijun-kun, is something wrong?" Haruichi asks him.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom." He hopes Haruichi won't notice anything different about him.

Fortunately, he's not looking at him. His attention is on the chess game Tetsu and Jun are playing. Jun's chess pieces are pretty lively, so it's looking to be an interesting game.

"Well, hurry back. I think the rooks are about to fight." The rooks start shouting obscenities at each other and a part of Sawamura wants to stay, but figuring out what Miyuki's doing wins out.

He rushes down the hallway, trying to see if he could still catch up to Miyuki. At first, he's lost and frustrated and thinks about going back to watch the chess fight when he hears a noise. It's faint, but unmistakably a noise. Sawamura turns the corner fast, almost running, and sees a sliver of light peeking out from a cracked door. He sidles up to the door and slowly, he peeks into the room and—

There's an eagle.

Sawamura is transfixed by the ethereal quality of the bird. The eagle shines with a pure white light. It glides gracefully around the room with its wings outstretched. Without realizing it, he leans to get a closer look. He fails to remembers that he's viewing this through a crack and that leaning on the door might not be such a good idea.

So of course, that's when he falls face first through the door.

"Ow, ow, ow." he groans, rubbing his forehead. He looks up, and not to his surprise he's greeted by angry amber eyes.

"Sawamura," Miyuki says slowly. "What the hell are you doing here?"

* * *

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Miyuki is pissed off, more at himself than Sawamura. He thought he'd found the perfect room to practice in without getting walked in on and perfected his sneaking away without anyone noticing (which was pretty easy considering how there's always something going down in the common room). It'd must not have been that perfect, though, if an idiot is able to catch him so easily. A cute idiot, but still an idiot.

_Dammit. _Miyuki grits his teeth. He banned himself from thinking those type of thoughts about Sawamura, but sometimes they still popped up.

Meanwhile, Sawamura is blubbering excuses. "-and I didn't mean to walk down this hallway! I just saw some strange light and wanted to know where it was coming from! I wasn't spying on you or anything!"

Miyuki pinches the bridge of his nose. "First of all, stop screaming. You're giving me a headache. Second, calm down. I'm not mad at you, I was just surprised. I didn't expect anyone to find me here."

Thankfully, Sawamura relaxes. "Why are you practicing magic here, anyway? It's dark and creepy in here." Sawamura's eyes dart around the room. It makes Miyuki snicker a little.

"Yeah, that was kind of the point. I didn't want anyone me watching practice." he says with a pointed glare at Sawamura.

"But why?" Sawamura shoots back, persisting on the matter. "It's not like you're bad at magic. I've never seen anyone, except maybe a teacher, do what you just did! Wasn't that a...a...what do you call it?"

"It's a—"

"Wait, don't tell me!" he yells suddenly. "If I see it again, I'll definitely figure it out."

Miyuki quickly realizes what Sawamura is getting at. "Nice try, but no way."

"Come on, Miyuki! Just do it one more time and I'll never bother you again!" Sawamura whines.

The second no is already on the tip of Miyuki's tongue when Sawamura turns those big golden eyes on him. They're filled with emotion, flashing with excitement and anticipation and most of all, hope. He can feel the words dying in his throat.

"Please, Miyuki." Sawamura says quietly. "Show me again."

His mouth moves without his permission. "Fine, whatever." He ignores Sawamura's cheers and pulls out his wand again. "Don't be surprised if nothing happens."

It physically hurts to look at Sawamura's expectant gaze. He turns away, closing his eyes. This is why he didn't want to practice in front of anyone in the first place. Magic is a real bitch sometimes, some spells working great and sometimes not working at all. He can cast spells the best when he's focus, which he tends not to be surrounded by other people. Even then, he doesn't always nail a spell on the first try. He'd rather go through that trial and error alone than in front of a loud audience. And yet, all he can think about how he doesn't want to let Sawamura down.

_Let him down? You're really in too deep, huh? _Miyuki shakes the thought away. _Focus, focus. _His hand trembles around his wand. He takes a deep breath, and then another. Then he lets go. He stops thinking about limits of his magic. He stops thinking about whether his magic will ever be useful, if it will be as strong when he really needs it. He stops thinking about Sawamura, about how rapidly he's becoming less of the obnoxious Seeker who pesters him every day and more of someone who could make him feel flustered and unsure and _vulnerable. _He let it all go, and pour all of his energy into the two words.

"_Expecto Patronum!" _

A wispy, translucent light shoots from his wand. It suspends itself in the air and slowly transforms into the distinct shape of an eagle. Miyuki admires the way it exudes strength and independence, despite the fact that it's not even solid. He hears Sawamura quietly gasp next to him. He turns to glance at him and instantly it's a mistake.

Sawamura's mouth is hanging open, tracking the bird as it does circles around the room. The glow from the eagle makes Sawamura's eyes light up. He realizes he's staring but he can't stop, not when Sawamura is this close and looking like this. Miyuki lets the thought come into his head, the thought he'd been trying his hardest to avoid. _You have a crush on Bakamura, Kazuya. No way around it. _He chuckles quietly to himself because of course, on top of the mounting stress from Quidditch and school _and _Narumiya (who'd been not so subtly pressuring about getting back together), he needs a stupid crush to worry about as well.

"Whoa," Sawamura says, sounding breathless. "Your Patronus is an eagle? Make sense, I guess."

All he can reply with is,"Glad to see you aren't completely asleep in Defense Against the Dark Arts." Then Miyuki actually internalizes Sawamura's words. "Wait, what do you mean 'makes sense'?"

He's not sure, but he swears he sees Sawamura's cheeks flush. "Well, you're strong. The Patronus is a hard spell to cast, right? And you still did it. Plus, you can be really...cool sometimes. Like when we're in a game and you pull off some amazing move to block the ball—" He's definitely blushing at this point. "What I'm trying to say is, it makes sense!"

"Ah, I see." Miyuki feels his mouth stretch wide in a grin and slings an arm around him. "Wow, Sawamura. I had no idea you felt that way about me."

"S-Shut up, you bastard!" he stutters. "That's the last time I compliment you. You just get an even bigger head!"

Miyuki doesn't respond, instead laughing hard. "You're amazing, Sawamura."

Sawamura looks away, hiding his definitely red face. "Whatever."

Miyuki leans against the desk to catch his breath. Usually after practicing magic over and over again he feels weary or tired, but right now he feels light and rejuvenated. He knows it's because of Sawamura. That's how he knows that whatever he's feeling for him, it's different. It might actually be _real._

Miyuki smiles to himself. _If it is real, that means it'll be over that much quicker. _He peers at Sawamura out of the corner of his eye. _Anyway, it's not like this idiot thinks of much outside of Quidditch. There's no way he feels the same. _He'll forget about Sawamura, go meet up with Narumiya, and avoid adding Sawamura to his tangled web of relationships.

He swears he'll do all of that...later.

"Come on, let's head back to the common room. I bet something exciting is happening there." Miyuki jumps off the desk and walks to the door.

Sawamura jumps off too. "Oh yeah, I totally forgot about the chess game! Aw, this is all your fault, Miyuki."

"Says the person who followed me."

They walk down the hallway together, talking and fighting and laughing.

If they're standing a little too close to each other, neither of them notices.


	8. Chapter 8

"Eijun-kun, calm down. It's not _that _bad." Haruichi takes a peek at Sawamura's Potions test. "Oh, wow." He slaps a hand to his mouth, accidentally saying that out loud.

"I heard that!" Sawamura can't blame him though. Looking at his own grade made him so nauseous he had to put his head down on the desk, his skin starting to feel cold and clammy.

"It'll be fine, Eijun-kun, don't worry about it." Haruichi persists in his consoling. "It's one only bad test, right?"

"..."

"You haven't gotten grades like this before, have you?!"

"I can't help it! I've never been any good at Potions." He isn't really good in any of his classes, minus Care of Magical Creatures (animals liked him he didn't know why).

"You know what will happen if you keep failing." The words are like a knife in Sawamura's heart.

Because he knows exactly what will happen if he keeps on tanking, as his professor so maliciously reminded him. If his grades dropped to a certain level, he'd be put on academic probation. Academic probation meant no extracurricular activities. No extracurricular activites meant…

"No Quidditch!" he wails. He puts his head back down in distress.

Furuya, however, perks up a bit. "Maybe you shouldn't worry about your grades so much."

The color comes back to Sawamura's face. "Like I'd let you get any more playing time than you already have!" He clenches his fist. "I'm not getting kicked off the Quidditch team. No way in hell!"

"Keep your voice down, Sawamura. The whole school can hear you." A voice says from the doorway.

They all turn around and see Miyuki walking in with a grin on his face.

"What are you doing here?" Sawamura asks in a rude tone. If Miyuki was going to be an asshole, he wasn't in the mood.

"Aw, what with that mean look?" Miyuki says, pretending to be hurt. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"No, seriously, what are you doing here?" Again, Sawamura really wasn't in the mood.

Miyuki, confused by Sawamura's lack of reaction, shoves his hands into his pockets. "You were the one who said I 'wouldn't have a sense of romance even if I was hit with a love potion'." He looks away. "So I came to walk with you to lunch."

Sawamura looks up at him, surprised. "Really?"

"Really."

That softens Sawamura up a bit. He wasn't lying when he said that, Miyuki isn't the most romantic person he's ever met. He knows that this whole relationship thing is new for the both of them so he cuts Miyuki some slack, but sometimes he can be downright insensitive. The fact that Miyuki would go out of his way to walk him to lunch, even though his class is on the other side of the castle...it's really sweet.

Yeah, he knows he has low standards.

Regardless, it makes Sawamura lighten up a little bit. He shyly smiles at Miyuki, and Miyuki smiles back.

"Can we go to lunch now?" Furuya loudly turns and asks Haruichi.

"Furuya-kun." Haruichi chastises softly. But he also understands what Furuya's getting at. Ever since Miyuki and Sawamura started dating their tension only got worse, not better.

"Eijun-kun, we're gonna head to lunch. Are you gonna be okay?"

Sawamura nodded. "I'll be fine, you guys go ahead."

"Are you dying or something?" Miyuki said after they left.

"Pretty much." Sawamura grumbles. "I failed another Potions test. If I fail another one, they'll kick me off the team!"

"Calm down, Sawamura. I'm sure it's not that bad." Miyuki grabs his test and looks at it. "Jeez, how are you not already on academic probation if you're getting these kind of grades?"

Sawamura snatches the test back. "I think I'll walk to lunch myself!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Miyuki chuckles. "If you're bombing Potions, why didn't you tell me?"

"You?"

"I can help you. Unlike you, I get top marks in all my classes."

Thinking about it, it doesn't sound like a bad idea. "You'd tutor me?"

Miyuki shrugs. "Sure, I don't mind."

"Okay." Sawamura nods his head, warming up to the idea. "Okay, yeah. Let's do it!"

"Alright. Now can we please go to lunch? I'm starving." He starts walking to the door, but not before Sawamura grabs his hand.

"Yeah, me too. I hope Furuya didn't eat everything already." Sawamura tugs him down the hallway.

Miyuki stares at their hands and smiles.

* * *

"Alright, I'm ready to learn!" Sawamura bursts into the empty classroom, hands filled with textbooks from the library.

Miyuki laughs. "At least you're eager." He's seated at the back of the classroom, also with textbooks stacked on the desks.

Sawamura starts to walk towards him, but stops when Miyuki puts a hand up.

"I forgot to mention, I have one condition." He could recognize that evil glint in Miyuki's eyes anywhere and instantly gulps.

"What is it?" he asks cautiously.

"You have to call me 'Sensei'."

Sawamura's reaction was instantaneous. "What?! No way, you perv!" He stomped over and plopped himself down in the seat next to Miyuki. "As if I'd ever say that!"

"What an overreaction. All you need to do is smile and say, 'Help me with this problem, Sensei!'"

Sawamura shudders. "Disgusting."

Miyuki rolls his eyes. "Fine, fine. Let's get started."

For the first hour, they cover a lot of ground. Knowing Miyuki, he didn't actually expect him to take this seriously. But no, Miyuki is a firm yet gentle teacher. He answers all of Sawamura's questions and gives some practice quizzes to see what he needs help on.

"All the Prefects get roped into doing community service, so I ended up tutoring people for free."

"Huh, I didn't know that." Sawamura said, trying to figure out one of the tougher problems.

"Yeah, I try to do it as little as possible. I'd do it more if I could get paid, but that 'not in the spirit of service' or whatever."

"Surprise, Miyuki is more selfish than I thought."

"Instead of wasting your energy on sarcasm, why don't you finish up? I am timing you, you know."

"Huh?"

It's strictly educational and Sawamura can feel himself understanding Potions a little bit more.

Then the second hour happens.

It's really out of nowhere. He's finishing some of the makeup work his Potions professor told him to do, when he gets stuck on one of the problems. It's one Miyuki already explained to him how to do twice, and he didn't want to ask him again. So he tries to figure it out for himself, but his mind starts to wander. His eyes travel away from his paper, and eventually they land on Miyuki.

He peers at Miyuki's profile. Miyuki's doing his own homework, mouth almost pouting as he works. Sawamura traces the line of his jaw, down to his neck and back up to his face. He doesn't realize he's staring until Miyuki notices it and speaks up.

"Sawamura? Is something wrong?"

He can feel his face warm up and prays that it isn't too obvious. "It's nothing. I spaced out for a second, that's all." He quickly turns back to homework and tries to focus, despite being able to feel Miyuki's gaze.

_What's up with him? _Miyuki thinks. He wonders if maybe that was Sawamura way of asking for help. But if he wanted help, why didn't he just ask? He's about to ask him this, when he notices how _pink _Sawamura looks. _Even the tips of his ears are red. Is he embarrassed about something? _Then he puts it together—the staring, the blushing, the way he's squirming the longer Miyuki looks at him—and he chokes back a laugh. Seems like Sawamura needs assistance with something other than schoolwork.

"Do you need help with that problem, Sawamura?" Miyuki offered. He lets his voice drop to a low timbre.

Sawamura jumps, not expecting Miyuki to sound so, well, sexy. "N—Nope, everything's fine."

"Don't be shy. I'm here to tutor you, remember?" Miyuki looks at his paper. "I told you if you use salamander blood you're going to have to reduce the number of mushrooms you use…"

He can hear Miyuki talking to him, but for some reason he can't pay attention to the words. All he can focus on is the slow rhythm of Miyuki's voice, the way their arms press against each other when Miyuki points something out on his paper, and how close they are, to the point where he can feel Miyuki's breath brush across his face. Sawamura turns to tell him something, maybe to back up, but then he notices how their faces are just inches apart. He glances at Miyuki's lips. He's only able to catch a quick, imperceptible smirk before Miyuki closes the distance—

Or at least tries to. Before he can, Sawamura has a textbook pressed against Miyuki's face.

"Uh, Sawamura?"

Sawamura's head is turned away and he's blushing adorably and Miyuki really, _really _wants to kiss him. "Mind moving this book so I can kiss you?"

"We shouldn't," Sawamura's still not looking at him. "It's really important I pass this class. I can't get distracted now."

"We've been working hard for an hour. We can take a little break." He moves around the book to reach Sawamura, but to no avail.

"I know you. Hell, I know myself. If we start making out, I'm not gonna want to do anything else!"

Sawamura realizes he's made a mistake when Miyuki's eyes flash. "Wait, no, that's not what I meant!"

"I saw the way you were looking at me," Miyuki says heatedly. "And this is the first time we've been completely alone in a while. Why don't we take advantage of it?"

He can feel his resolve slipping. "Miyuki, we shouldn't." he says weakly.

Miyuki, the unfair bastard that he is, leaned in again. "You don't want to?"

He thinks about it. The way he sees it he as two options: he can save his grade, his Quidditch career, his entire livelihood, or he can let go for one second.

The textbook slips out of his fingers as he grabs the front of Miyuki's shirt to haul him in. Miyuki freezes for a second, before cupping the back of Sawamura's neck and bringing him closer. He nibbles Sawamura's bottom lip to get him to open his mouth, immediately sliding his tongue in once Sawamura does.

At this point, Sawamura has lost the ability to think. Miyuki's got him cornered between the wall and his body, his hands are knotted in Miyuki's hair, and the only thought crosses Sawamura's mind is, _This feels really good. _He can't stop now even if he wanted to. And he really doesn't want to. Miyuki is right, they haven't been truly alone in a while. Dating in Hogwarts isn't easy in the slightest. Between classes and Quidditch and the always watching eyes of his classmates , even Hogsmeade dates weren't good enough anymore. Can't he enjoy this space of privacy, just for a little bit?

Miyuki makes that decision for him. He pulls back, only slightly, to catch his breath. Then he slips off Sawamura's red and gold tie and unbuttons his shirt a little. Without hesitating, he starts kissing up Sawamura's neck.

"Miyuki," he groans. The groan turns into a moan once Miyuki starts nipping under his jaw. He focuses on a patch of skin and sucks hard.

Whenever they do stuff like this, Sawamura is easily reminded about how much more _experience _Miyuki has over him. He's had boyfriends and girlfriends and has probably done tons of stuff like this. Meanwhile, Miyuki was his first kiss, his first make out session, his first everything. (Well, not _everything). _It made Sawamura feel a little insecure sometimes. So he decides to do something daring too.

Daring for him, at least. He steels himself and slips shaking hands underneath Miyuki's shirt. He feels up Miyuki's stomach. _Wow, he's more built than I thought, _Sawamura thinks as he brushes Miyuki's abs_. _Sawamura moves to his back, feeling every dip and curve. When Miyuki bites down again, Sawamura digs his nails into his skin.

"Yeah," Miyuki grunts. Sawamura doesn't know what makes him do it, but he turns his head to look at Miyuki.

He's breathing heavy and his eyes are glazed over, but the lust and arousal he sees reflected in Miyuki's gaze is what really makes him shiver. Embarrassingly enough, he feels himself start to harden.

He knows Miyuki can tell, too. He pulls away suddenly and grips his shoulders tightly, and Sawamura feels like he's going to die of shame.

Then Miyuki says, "Sawamura, can I—"

He never gets to hear the end of that sentence because Miyuki's interrupted by a loud shierk.

They both spring away from each other like they've been electrocuted.

There's a teacher staring at them with a mix of disbelief and anger. "What are the two of you doing?"

They are so, so screwed.

* * *

"I can't believe I got double the detention, just because 'I'm a Prefect and should know better'!" Miyuki complains as they're walking back to the dorms. "I should protest to the Headmaster."

Sawamura is still numb. He keeps repeating, "She saw my…"

Miyuki rolls his eyes. "I don't think she saw your boner, Sawamura."

He stops dead in his tracks. "I didn't have a—I wasn't—" He looks at the ground. "Shut up."

Miyuki smiles, completely free of guilt. "She definitely saw your hickeys."

"Shut up!" He buries his face in his hands. "I'm so embarrassed I could die! Aren't you?"

"No. Why should I be? What's wrong with me kissing my boyfriend?" He wraps an arm around Sawamura's waist and moves him closer. "Especially when he looks so hot when I do it."

Sawamura flushes. "Don't think you can sweet-talk your way out of this one!" But secretly, it makes him feel better.

"Next week, we should meet somewhere else. I'll use a locking spell, so we'll be okay."

"Next week?" Sawamura repeats back, confused.

"Yeah, next week. We never finished your tutoring session." Miyuki squeezes his hip as he says that.

That almost makes him melt. Almost. Then he tries to think back on everything he learned about Potions today and the only thing he can remember is Miyuki's damp breath on his neck.

He pushes off Miyuki's arm. "I'm never letting you tutor me again!"

"Sawamura, you can't be serious."

Sawamura starts to storm off, but before he does he says, "We can still meet up somewhere alone, if you want."

Miyuki takes a second to process Sawamura's words, then laughs loudly. "You're such a romantic."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry, I totally forgot to post this to on Christmas! So enjoy an Christmas short on New Year's Eve.**

* * *

The entire castle is busy getting ready for Christmas break. Students and teachers are packing up to go home and giving out last minute presents. Even Sawamura is stuck in the dorms, wrapping gifts for his friends back home.

"You're missing a huge party downstairs," Miyuki says as he walks in.

"I have to get this done before we go!" Sawamura replies frantically.

"I can help you with that, if you want." Miyuki pulls out his wand and starts to say a spell, but Sawamura stops him.

"It's more special if I do it with my hands. Besides, if it's wrapped too well they might get suspicious. I've never been good at wrapping."

Miyuki glances at the finished presents on the ground next to Sawamura. "Yeah, I can tell."

Sawamura squawks at the thinly veiled insult, then quiets down as he watches Miyuki sit down on the bed.

"Uh, Miyuki? Is there are a reason you're here?"

"Do I need a reason to see my _boyfriend?" _Miyuki says smugly, knowing how Sawamura will react.

True to form, Sawamura does exactly what he always does when Miyuki uses that word: blush deeply and look away. "Yeah, right! Now tell me the real reason."

"That is the real reason. I wanted to see you, that's all." He starts to stand up. "I can leave if I'm bothering you."

"No, don't!" Sawamura shouts. "I mean, I don't mind if you stay."

Miyuki smirks. "I knew you wouldn't." Miyuki lays back on his bed and flips through one of his magazines.

Sawamura sighs and returns to wrapping his gifts. _Dammit Miyuki. How am I supposed to concentrate now? I should've let him leave. _he thinks. But then again, the sight of Miyuki relaxing on his bed...it's something straight out of a dream.

This leads to some other thoughts, till Sawamura literally has to smack his own head.

"Sawamura? You okay?" Miyuki says, a little concerned.

Sawamura laughs awkwardly. "Of course! I'm completely fine!" _Don't be a perv, idiot! _he yells at himself.

Miyuki stares at him for a few more seconds, before snorting and turning back to what he was reading. Sawamura lets out a silent breath of relief, and tries once again to focus on the presents. Still, his mind drifts back to Miyuki.

He still gets flustered whenever Miyuki refers to him as his _boyfriend, _because he still can't believe that he's actually Miyuki's boyfriend. It's been a couple of weeks since they started dating, yet Sawamura's still waiting for Miyuki to walk up to him and say, "Okay, the joke's over now" or to wake up in bed with the knowledge that this has all been a dream. This is _Miyuki _he's talking about here. Miyuki, who is by no means unattractive and can get any girl or guy he wanted if he really tried. So why did he pick Sawamura?

This thought process was starting to put Sawamura in a bad mood. Because, even though they haven't been together long, Sawamura liked him. A lot. And it's scary not to know how much of Miyuki feels the same.

Miyuki flicks his forehead. "Ow! What the hell, Miyuki!"

"You've been sitting there with this constipated look on your face and you didn't even notice I moved." Miyuki tilts his head. "What are you thinking?"

The last thing Sawamura wants to do is tell him about his stupid insecurities. "It's nothing."

Miyuki rolls his eyes, but doesn't push the issue. Instead he says, "I was going to wait until you finish, but since you're taking forever I might as well give this to you now." He pulls something out of his back pocket and hands it to Sawamura.

"You got me a present?" He stares in wonder at the perfectly wrapped gift, which is red and has cartoon reindeers actually galloping in place on it. "Can I open it now?"

Miyuki shrugs. "Sure, I don't care."

He ripped open the wrapping paper and found that Miyuki had gotten a brand new pair of riding gloves for his broom.

"I remember you complaining about needing new gloves, so I thought it'd be a nice present. It's not the most romantic gift in the world, but I thought it'd be useful."

"Who cares about romantic? I've wanted these for months now." He looks up at Miyuki and gives him his sunniest smile yet. "Thank you, Miyuki."

It could be Sawamura's eyes betraying him, but he swears he see Miyuki's cheeks get a little pink. "It's no big deal. I don't suppose you got me anything?"

Sawamura's mood dropped instantly. "By the time I thought about it, I didn't have any money. I'm sorry, Miyuki."

Miyuki laughed and ruffled his hair. "Don't look so depressed, Sawamura. You're crushing my Christmas spirit."

"I'll buy you something when I get home, I swear!" he promises.

"It's okay. We haven't been together that long, so I wasn't expecting you get me anything." Miyuki rubs his neck sheepishly. "I bought that before we started dating, anyway."

That intrigued Sawamura. "Really? Why?"

This time, he knows for sure Miyuki was blushing. "I thought it'd be nice to give you something for once, instead of you giving me everything." He's speaking so low Sawamura has to strain to hear him.

"I can't remember ever giving you anything. Wait, I did give you some candy that one time." Sawamura remembers.

"I'm not talking about a gift. You give me—I'm not saying it. It's too cheesy."

"Now you have to tell me!"

He begs and pleads, but Miyuki doesn't budge. Finally, he gives up and seriously wraps his friends' presents with a clearer mind than before.

"Finished!" Sawamura says with a triumphant look on his face.

Miyuki, who had moved back to the bed, nodded his head in respect. "I can't believe you did that all by hand."

"Believe it or not, this is how we Muggles get everything done." He slumps down on the bed next to Miyuki. "Now that I'm done, we can go down to the party."

Miyuki grins. "Or not."

Sawamura glances around at how completely empty the dorms are and grins back. "Or not."

They lay down side by side, not touching or anything, just talking. After a moment of silence Miyuki says, "There is something you can do for me, if you want to get me a present."

"What is it?"

"Write me over break. I've always wanted to get a letter from an owl." With cell reception being so bad between the Wizarding and Muggle world, it was the only way Sawamura could communicate with him when they weren't at school. "And getting to talk to you would be an additional perk."

Sawamura nodded eagerly. "I'll send you a bunch of letters. But you better write me back too, Miyuki!"

"Don't worry, I'll definitely write you back."

For sure, Sawamura can't wait to see his family and friends and tell them all about school (well, _almost _everything about school with his friends) and how he's been, but for once he doesn't feel himself impatiently counting down the minutes until the train arrives to take him home. Instead, he savors the last few minutes of his first Christmas with Miyuki.


	10. Chapter 10

There are pros and cons to Sawamura and Miyuki's relationship for Furuya.

Pro: Sawamura isn't shouting in his ear all the time now. Miyuki has taken his spot now that he follows Miyuki around a lot more.

Con: Miyuki practices with Sawamura more than he does with him now. Miyuki swears up and down that's not true, but it doesn't help when, in middle of denying that he plays favorites, he cuts himself off to look at Sawamura making a fool out of himself and smile. Miyuki immediately forgets what they were talking about and walks over to him, much to Furuya's chagrin. What those two do together have nothing to do with him, as long as it doesn't affect his Quidditch performance. Furuya _will _become the primary Seeker, no matter what.

Pro: Now that Sawamura spends all his time with Miyuki, Haruichi and Furuya spend most their time together, alone.

He doesn't know when that became a pro.

It'll always starts the same way. The three of them will be doing something simple, like walking down the hallway, and then they pass Miyuki. Miyuki will bump into Sawamura and Sawamura will stop to say something to him. Haruichi and him have learned to keep walking when this happens (it's never just a couple of words with Sawamura) and before they know it they're alone again.

At first, it was awkward. Sawamura talked enough for the both of them, they weren't used to filling up the silence. Then they got used to each other and the words came easier. When it was just them, Haruichi was less soft-spoken and more open. Even him who never had much say found himself exploding with things to talk about. He's only like this with Haruichi and he doesn't know why.

It wouldn't be a problem (it's not a problem, not really) except that now it's not about talking. When he's with Haruichi he feels weirder. He can't look him in the eye sometimes and finds himself thinking strange thoughts, like if Haruichi's hands are as soft as they look and what it'd feel like to hold them.

"Furuya-kun, if you're not going to pay attention I'm not going to help you with your homework anymore." Haruichi pokes him with his pencil.

Furuya sits up quickly, not realizing that he was dozing off. "Sorry. What subject are we on now?"

Haruichi sighs. "We're on Herbology now. This worksheet isn't that hard, we just have to separate the plants into classes and explain each of their functions."

"That sounds easy to you?"

Haruichi laughs. "Okay, that might be a little difficult for you. But I'm here if you need help."

Furuya nods and quietly gets to work. He notices that Haruichi seems to be flying through his homework while he can't even remember what wormwood is used for.

"You're really good at Herbology." Furuya comments.

"I'm good at most subjects." He likes the way Haruichi says things. Not arrogantly or spitefully, factually. "But out of all of them, Herbology is my favorite."

"Why?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. I think it's cool how these simple plants can do so much. You can use them to heal, to attack, to play a trick on someone…"

"You sound like Sawamura." They've been going to this school for five years, but every time they learn a new spell Sawamura acts like a first-year again. Furuya has come to the conclusion that the Muggle world must be a terrifying place.

Haruichi laughs and it's a nice, pleasing sound. "I don't know how to explain it, I just think it's interesting. I wouldn't mind being a Herbology professor when I grow up."

"Really?" He tries to imagine it, Haruichi wearing teacher robes and carefully directing his students. It actually fits him pretty well.

"Yeah. I mean, I still don't know what I want to do when I graduate but I think it'd be nice to be a teacher. What do you want to do when you get out of school?"

Furuya doesn't even hesitate. "Quidditch."

Haruichi laughs again, and this time Furuya smiles with him. "I don't know why I even asked."

They started working in comfortable silence when Furuya hears himself say, "You'd make a good teacher, Haruichi."

He looks up to see Haruichi's cheeks burning. "Thank you. And you too! I've always thought you'd go pro out of all of us."

Furuya's cheeks warm, and they don't speak again.

* * *

Furuya doesn't want to talk to anyone about what he's feeling, but ignoring it is only making it worse. He thinks that maybe if he could put a name whatever this thing is with Haruichi, then maybe he'd wouldn't feel so confused all the time. However, excluding Haruichi (because he obviously can't talk to Haruichi _about _Haruichi) he only has one other friend, as much as he hates to call him that.

"Sawamura," he says calmly, to draw as little attention as possible.

The two of them are at the end of the table, eating their lunch. Haruichi is in the library studying for the Transfiguration quiz next period, so there's no better chance than this.

"What?" Sawamura barely even pauses in stuffing his face with food.

He doesn't beat around the bush. "How did you know you liked Miyuki-senpai?"

Sawamura's fork clatters loudly against his plate as he drops it and he starts coughing, choking on his food. Furuya can feel everyone's eyes on them and closes his eyes in frustration.

"Why do you wanna know that?" Sawamura says after a big gulp of water.

"Keep your voice down."

"Answer my question. Why do you wanna that?" Before Furuya can respond he jumps in, "Wait, don't tell me! You're trying to seduce Miyuki away from me for more practice time, aren't you?"

For a second, Furuya can't comprehend the words coming out Sawamura mouth. They're so nonsensical and stupid that he forgets to respond.

"So I'm right!" Sawamura points a finger in his face. "Well, Miyuki likes me better so don't even try it!"

Miyuki, who happens to be walking by, says, "I wouldn't be so sure."

"Bastard!" Sawamura calls after him.

"Sawamura, please. Just tell me." Furuya pleads.

He must've done something right, because Sawamura's face changes. "I don't know. I mean I honestly couldn't stand him at first, and then one day I looked at him." He scrunches his eyebrows. "I don't know to explain it, I just realized it. Then it was all I could think about."

It doesn't exactly make sense to him, but somehow Furuya can understand what he's saying. "Hm."

Sawamura fidgets, clearly embarrassed. "Is there a reason you're asking me this? We never talk about this stuff."

"Yes."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"No."

He decides that listening to Sawamura's annoying outcries is a good enough payment for his help.

* * *

He looks at Haruichi, immersed in a book about mandrakes, and he realizes.

* * *

"Aniki, can I talk to you?"

Ryousuke and his friends pause where they were walking down the hallway. "Sure, go ahead."

"Um, alone." Haruichi has the urge to walk away and try to find Ryousuke when he's alone, but there's almost always someone hanging around his brother(he knows, he's been trying for weeks).

Ryousuke stares at him silently for a moment, then says, "Go on without me. I'll catch up later."

Once it's the two of them, they start walking down the hallway again. "I'm listening."

"Um, well." Now that he's finally able to talk to his brother he doesn't know what to say. "It's nothing serious! I just—I wanted to know—"

"Don't waste my time, Haruichi."

In one breath he says, "How do you know if someone likes you?"

When Ryousuke says nothing he adds, "In the romantic way, I mean."

He jumps when Ryousuke stops and laughs. "Is that all you wanted to ask me? Dating advice?"

Haruichi knew he'd have to take a bit of ridicule to get the help he wanted, so he only nods.

"I'm surprised. You always seemed more interested in your books than dating." Ryousuke nudges him. "So? Who is it?"

Haruichi shakes his head furiously. "I'm not telling you! I mean, there's no one! This is a hypothetical situation."

"Right. And what if I say I won't help you unless you tell me?"

"Aniki!"

"Fine, I'll let you off hook this time." Ryousuke smirks. "I'll figure it out soon enough."

Haruichi waits in anticipation to hear his brother's wise words. He knows Ryousuke could be a little blunt and harsh sometimes, but his advice always makes sense.

"If the person is always looking at you, finding excuses to be near you, or blushing around you, that usually means they like you." Ryousuke says after much thought.

Haruichi tries to remember any time where Furuya might've been staring at him or finding excuses to be near him, but he comes up blank. They end up near each other whether they want to or not, and he can't even think about what Furuya would look like blushing.

His crestfallen expression must show because Ryousuke follows up with, "Don't take my word for it, though. I'm basing my advice off the way the person I like acts around me. It's different for everyone."

The words make Haruichi forget his disappointment for a minute. "Wait, what? You have a crush on someone, Aniki?"

"Why is that so surprising? I'm not a robot." he says wryly.

"You've never mentioned anything." Now that Haruichi thought about it, his brother didn't date much either.

"You're thinking about how I don't date much, right?" Ryousuke guesses, laughing at the bewildered look on Haruichi's face. "Well, I've liked this person for a while."

He knows that Ryousuke won't tell him who it is out of spite, so he asks, "If you know that your crush likes you, then why aren't you dating them?"

Ryousuke continues smiling, but the smile changes into something unreadable. "Maybe this is the most valuable advice I can give, Haruichi." He stands in front of him and puts a hand on Haruichi's shoulder. "The one who falls first always loses."

"Huh? I don't understand."

Before Ryousuke could speak any further, they heard someone calling his brother's name. They both turned around to see Kuramochi running up to them.

"Ryou-san, are you busy?" he asks once he catches up to them.

"No, I'm not." When Haruichi protests he says, "I've given you enough advice. What happens now is up to you."

Kuramochi's eyes dart between the two of them. "Sorry for interrupting."

Ryousuke turns completely away from him. "It's alright, we're done anyway. What do you need?"

"The field's open, so I thought we could practice Bludger Backbeats before the game on Saturday."

"Youichi, you're better at those than I am. You don't need anymore practice."

Strangely enough, Kuramochi blushes. "You're the one who said you can 'never have enough practice', something like that."

"Fine, I'll practice with you, but only for a little bit. It's almost dinner." They start walking away, in their own little world.

Haruichi sighs and goes back to his room to ponder his brother's words.

* * *

Furuya and him are in the library studying. Haruichi is immersed in a book about mandrakes, but occasionally he'll glance at Furuya over the top of the book. He swears he feels Furuya staring at him, and his heart speeds up at the thought. At the same time, it's probably wishful thinking.

He still doesn't understand what his brother meant, but he decides hold off on doing anything about his feelings. He'd hate it if things got weird with Furuya just when they were starting to become close friends.

Maybe with time, things would change.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:This is something I've had an idea for a while, so I really excited to finally do it! In this universe, Sawamura is a Gryffindor and Miyuki is a Slytherin. So here's how this works: if you guys like this chapter, tell me and I'll write more parts. If you don't, I'll won't write anymore. Simple as that.**

**Oh, some notes about this universe: obviously, House tensions are higher in this universe, and also the Quidditch teams are a bit more clique-ish. Also, Quidditch is different. Instead of competing for the House Cup, the Houses compete to represent Hogwarts in Internationals, where they compete against other magical schools all over the world.**

* * *

After a year of training and struggling and mostly riding the bench, Sawamura had finally done it. He'd made it to the first string of the Quidditch team.

It was the start of a new school year, his Fifth year, and also start of another Quidditch season. Coach Kataoka announced it at the end of their first practice, that he and Haruichi were moving up.

"Haha nice job, Bakamura! You too, Kominato." Kuramochi congratulated, kicking Sawamura at the back of his legs. "Wait, are you crying?"

"No," he sniffled.

Then Chris walked up to him and said, "You've worked hard for this, Sawamura. I'm proud of you."

Sawamura completely broke down at that. As the team's Keeper, Chris was tasked with training the Seekers. In the beginning, he and Chris didn't get along at all. Now their relationship had strengthened into a strong mentor bond, so getting a compliment meant a lot to him.

"Thanks, Chris-senpai." he answered between wails.

He was still tearing up when they got back inside from practice.

"Jeez, quit crying." Kuramochi said. "You're getting on my nerves."

"Eijun-kun's just emotional." Haruichi laughed.

"It still doesn't matter. I'm still going to be the primary Seeker." Furuya reminded him.

"Don't get cocky! I'm on the same level as you now!" Sawamura yelled, which Furuya ignored.

Kuramochi smacked the back of his head. "Shut up! I wanna tell you and Kominato some ground rules, now that you're first stringers."

Sawamura fell quiet immediately. He couldn't wait to hear this.

"Number one, you sit at our side of the table now."

Both him and Haruichi straightened at that. There was always something going down at the other end of the Gryffindor table, and the tales of what went on there had been legendary.

"Two, it doesn't matter when practice ends, we practice till dinner. There's no way we're going to Internationals without doing that." There was a fire in Kuramochi's eyes, which ignited a fire in Sawamura too.

He knew Kuramochi must be thinking about last year. After years of not even coming close to Internationals, the Gryffindors finally made it to the championships. They were so close, their goal was just within their reach—and then the Slytherins beat them.

He'll never forget that feeling. He was watching from the sidelines and he could still hear the deafening silence from the Gryffindor side of the bleachers, the sobs of his fellow teammates. He'd never felt so helpless, watching all their hard work go down the drain. He didn't want to feel like that ever again.

"Three, whatever you do don't get into any fights with a—" A group of boys walking past them roughly bumped into Kuramochi. They laughed and talked without stopping to apologize.

Kuramochi righted himself and said loudly, "Watch where you're going, shitheads."

The group of boys stopped and turned around. Sawamura sees their green and silver ties and his blood runs cold. _Slytherins. _

These were Slytherins Kuramochi knew too, as one of them with white blond hair steps to the front. "Kuramochi. I knew I smelled something bad." His friends laugh behind him.

Kuramochi grit his teeth and took a deep breath. "Narumiya. Too busy kissing ass to look where you're walking?"

Narumiya chuckled and it sent chills down Sawamura's spine. "You bumped into us."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Guys, let's go."

They tried to walk away but Narumiya shouts after them, "Was that me or did I hear you talking about Internationals?"

Kuramochi stopped, then turned right back around. "Yeah, what about it?"

Narumiya and his friends looked at each other and laughed again. "That's what I love about you Gryffindors. You keep trying and trying even though there's no point. We know who'll win in the end."

He stormed up to him. "Last year was just luck."

The tension was rising fast, and Sawamura took a step forward to do something, anything, except he felt Furya grab ahold of his sleeve and shake his head.

"Stay out of it." He didn't say anything else.

Then Narumiya said, "Yeah, or your team just sucks."

That was it, game over. Kuramochi grabbed the front of his shirt and threw him against the wall. A couple of Narumiya's friends moved forward but he put a hand to stop them.

He focused all his attention on Kuramochi. "Are you gonna hit me, Kuramochi? I'm sure the Headmistress would love that. Not like your team would miss you or anything. What's one mediocre Beater from another?"

Kuramochi clenched his fist. "I'll take my chances."

He raised his hand and it looks like he was actually about to punch Narumiya in the face when Haruichi yells, "Teacher! A teacher's coming!"

"Shit." he glared at Narumiya, then released him. "Let's get out of here, quick!"

They ran quickly down the hallway, the Slytherins' taunts echoing down the hallway. Once they had gotten far enough away, Kuramochi rested against the wall.

"There was no teacher." Kuramochi stated.

Haruichi shrugged. "Aniki already told me the rules. He'd be mad if we lost another player."

"Yeah, he'd kick my ass." Kuramochi grinned. "Thanks, then. I wanted to knock him out so bad, I couldn't think straight.

Sawamura, who had been holding everything in till now, bursted with things to say. "Why didn't you punch him in the face? I wanted to! I can't believe that white haired guy said we suck, right to our faces! I know he's a Slytherin, but doesn't mean he has to be rude!"

The three of them stared at Sawamura like he was the biggest idiot on the planet.

"Stupid. You're the reason I have to spell these rules out clearly!" He cleared his throat. "Rule number three, whatever you do, don't get into a fight with a Slytherin. The Headmistress already warned us that if anyone on the team fights with anyone of the Slytherins or vice versa, the people involved automatically get kicked off."

Sawamura's jaw dropped. "You're kidding."

"The Slytherins have been picking fights to get us in trouble ever since." Kuramochi sighed. "They're smart, I'll give them that. Like Narumiya, for example. He didn't even try to hit me, he just started talking shit because he knew I'd react. That's why a hotheaded idiot like you should avoid Slytherins altogether! Get involved with them, you'll be in the Headmistress's office in a flash."

"I'm not that stupid!" Sawamura huffed.

Even an oblivious idiot like him knew about the heated rivalry between the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Their feud traced back all the way back to the beginning of Hogwarts, and it didn't seem like it was ending any time soon. He had friends who were on the receiving end of a nasty Slytherin prank and his teammates were particularly passionately their hatred of the other house.

Sawamura's never felt one way about it or the other. He had friends in other houses, but none from Slytherin (you know, because of the whole hating each other thing). He couldn't remember the last time he even talked to someone from that house. How could he form an opinion on people didn't know anything about?

"I hope so." Kuramochi stood up. "Let's go to the dining hall. It's almost dinner anyway."

He left the thoughts of fights and Quidditch, only thinking about food.

* * *

The rest of the week went by as normal. He was fully initiated into the first string at lunch when Ryousuke and Kuramochi hexed his seat, turning his hair bright green (the worst part about that was that he didn't even notice, so he spent the whole day wondering what the big joke was). He slept, stayed at practice well into dinner, argued with Furuya, the usual.

Then on Friday, the upperclassmen called him and Haruichi over from the other side of the common room.

"At midnight, come downstairs and meet us at the door." Tetsu told them once they came over.

"Why? Don't tell me we're going broom riding again! My butt's still sore from today." Sawamura complained.

Ryousuke smiled, his face giving away nothing. "It's a secret."

"Don't be late, either, or we'll leave without you." Kuramochi threatened.

Sawamura and Haruichi glanced at each other at the same time. They both knew, if the upperclassmen were keeping something secret, it couldn't be good.

"Furuya-kun, do you know what's going on at midnight? Haruichi asked once they sit back down with him.

Furuya didn't even look up from his book. "Oh yeah, that's tonight. I can't tell you."

That riled Sawamura up. "Why not?"

"The seniors told me not to." As if any more proof were needed, Sawamura turned back to see the upperclassmen staring at them.

"Are coming tonight, then?" Haruichi persisted.

"No. I'm tired. And I'm not up to do that."

"Do what?" Sawamura tried again.

Furuya didn't respond.

So later, in the dorms, Sawamura and Haruichi played cards until midnight. They tiptoed downstairs and were greeted by a bright wand light shining in their face.

"You guys took forever. We're gonna be the last ones there!" Jun said. Once his eyes adjusted to the light Sawamura recognized most of the sixth and seventh years, along with some of their girlfriends.

Tetsu hit Jun on the shoulder. "Keep your voice down. Let's go."

Tetsu opened the common room door and they walked through the school, without a light or anything. Sawamura kept asking if they were almost wherever they were going. The fifth time he asked Kuramochi whispered that he was going to try a new wrestling move on him if he didn't keep quiet, effectively shutting him up.

Nori bumped his shoulder. "We're almost there. Trust me, it's worth the wait."

Sawamura smiled. "Thanks, Nori-senpai."

After basically forever, the group finally stopped in front of a door Sawamura swore he had never seen before. "Brace yourself," Jun said, and Sawamura shook in anticipation.

Once they all stepped inside he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

There was a banner hanging up that said _Quidditch _with cartoon Snitches flying across the word. There were balloons floating in the air of the House colors (all except Slytherin, that is) and a punch table complete with juice and chips. Music was playing from a speaker somewhere and people from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were already there. The upperclassmen immediately dispersed and integrated into the crowd.

Sawamura craned his head around to look at the entire room. "What is this?"

Haruichi did the same thing as him. "I think it's a party."

"You're right, it is." Chris said, appearing at his side from nowhere. "We always have one at the beginning of the Quidditch season, a few throughout the year, then after the championship match."

"Whoa, I didn't know that!" Sawamura exclaimed.

"It'd be bad if any teachers found out, so it's only primary members from each respective Quidditch team and their dates. Keeps the party size down."

Sawamura didn't know what to do first. This was his first real party with people he didn't normally see and he had to admit he was a little nervous.

Chris smiled as if he could read his mind. "Just have fun, Sawamura. That's the most important thing." With that, Chris disappeared into the crowd as well.

Sawamura took his advice and mingled with people from other houses. He tried dancing with a girl but only ended up stomping all over her feet, as she let him him know angrily. He got into a friendly argument with some Ravenclaws about Quidditch teams (the Holyhead Harpies rule always. Always.) and drank some of the punch, which he almost pretty positive wasn't just punch. He was in the middle of a conversation with his friend, a Hufflepuff named Raichi, when the Slytherins showed up.

One minute the party was in full swing and everyone was having a good time, and the next the door swung open and everything screeched to a halt. Even the music skidded to a stop.

Despite the confused and bewildered looks from everyone, the Slytherins didn't back down. In fact, they looked cool and confident.

He recognized Narumiya from the other day. "I told you guys, we really_ needed _to party."

The Gryffindor seniors moved to the front and everyone cleared the way for the two rivals.

Raichi laughed nervously. "Are they gonna fight?"

Sawamura wondered that too. He also wondered if he should be standing over with them too, ready to get into a brawl if need be. Haruichi hadn't moved either, so he stayed put with Raichi.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Jun growls. "You weren't invited."

A big, hulking guy named Harada steps to the front. "It's a Quidditch party. We're a Quidditch team, the same as everyone here. We should be invited like everyone else."

"None of us want to party with scum like you!" Jun spat.

"Who are you calling scum?" Narumiya spoke up, but Harada silenced him.

"All we're saying is, it's not fair."

"Like you guys know about being fair!" Kuramochi moved forward menacingly. "Everyone knows you have to be a liar to get into your house."

Narumiya moved forward too. "So hiding invitations is what you call truthful? For all you Gryffindors talk about being honest and noble, you're just a bunch of hypocrites."

The tensions in the rooms were rising fast and it seemed like a fight really might break out. Sawamura wanted to go back to having a good time, but he was powerless to stop either group from fighting.

Then Harada put a hand on Narumiya's shoulder and Tetsu did the same to Kuramochi.

Harada said, "Stop trying to provoke them. That's not what we came here to do."

Tetsu said, "Calm down, Kuramochi. You get worked up too easily."

Kuramochi shrugs his hand off. "Sorry."

Tetsu turned to Harada and said, "You should stay," much to the outrage of his friends.

"Tetsu, are you out of your mind?!" Jun said.

"He's right. It's only fair that if we're going to have party about Quidditch, we invite _all _the Quidditchteams. Besides, we don't talk to talk to them."

"Wise words, Yuuki." This time, a slight sarcasm could be heard in Harada's voice.

If Tetsu was irritated, he didn't show it. "Then, let's get back to it."

The music was turned back on and Sawamura let out a deep breath. "Man, that was nerve wracking!"

Raichi had already moved on. "Finish your story! Did you win the stickball game?"

"It's called baseball! And okay it's the bottom of the ninth, meaning the game is almost over, and this huge monster of a guy steps up to the plate. I'm not one to back out from a fight, so I wind my arm back real far and then—"

"Raichi," Sanada interrupted, walking up to them.

"Sanada-senpai!" Raichi said brightly. "Do you wanna hear Sawamura's stickball story?"

"Baseball!"

Sanada reaches a hand back to scratch the back of his head. "Maybe later. Actually, I wanted to know if you wanted to dance or something."

Raichi looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He stood there gaping at Sanada long enough for Sawamura to realize that he should probably leave the two alone.

So he moved to the punch bowl, unsure of what he should do now. Haruichi was locked in an intense conversation with two Ravenclaws, the seniors were playing a rowdy drinking game with the other houses, and Raichi and Sanada were swaying together sweetly. He had nothing to do.

He kept himself busy by swishing around the drink in cup and pondering whether magical alcohol was different from regular alcohol. Did it get you drunker? Would you see literal stars?

"You know, I'm pretty sure the point of a party is to dance."

Sawamura jumped. There was a guy standing next to him who wasn't there before, and when he turned to respond the words died in his throat.

The first thing Sawamura thought was that the guy in front of him was really, really attractive. He had messy hair and sharp brown eyes hidden behind dark glasses, not to mention a deep voice. He racked his brain trying to figure out if he'd ever seen this guy anywhere before, and if did how he could forget it.

Hot Guy waves a hand in front of his face. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" Sawamura cursed at himself inside his head. "I don't feel like dancing."

The guy leaned against the table as a fast, poppy song comes on. "Why not?"

"I'm not good at it." His friends already made fun of him for practically trampling the first person he danced with. He didn't want to go through that again.

Sawamura expected him to shrug his shoulders and walk away. But Hot Guy said, "You're in luck. I'll dance good enough for the both of us."

Sawamura didn't even get the chance to think a simple, _What?, _before he's pulled into the middle of the crowd without a warning.

"What are you doing?" Sawamura asked frantically. He tries to pull away but the guy has a tight grip on his hands.

"_We're_ dancing. All you have to do is move your feet."

When Sawamura's feet stayed glued to floor, he sighed. "I came here to have fun. What about you?"

Their eyes meet, and Sawamura's worries melt away. Cautiously, he begins shuffling back and forth.

Hot Guy laughs, light and happy. "That's the spirit!"

They dance to a couple of songs. Sawamura couldn't help but notice how rough the guy's hands were, probably from broom riding. He liked the way his hands fit in the guy's as they move together. At one point the guy twirled him and they both started laughing.

They slowed down and stopped after the fourth or fifth song. They caught their breath from all the laughing, and Sawamura felt like he's just come down from flying and he didn't know why. It was once they stopped that Sawamura came back to himself and realized where he was and what he was doing, practically in the arms of a stranger. He removed his hands, blushing.

The guy didn't notice. He only smiled and said, "Hey, what's your name?"

It only struck Sawamura as weird right then that they had shared that whole experience and hadn't even exchanged names. "Oh, I'm—"

"Sawamura!"

At the same time he heard someone say, "Kazuya!"

Kuramochi came up in a hurry and grabbed his arm. "What the hell are you doing?" He wasn't looking at him when him asked, but instead at the guy (whose name had still failed to learn).

Hot Guy simply grinned wider. "Kuramochi. I thought you were going to spend the whole night avoiding me."

Before Kuramochi can respond, Narumiya comes up and grabs the guy's arm as well. "What the hell, Kazuya?"

"Is there an echo in here?" The guy muttered to himself. Out loud he said, "What did I do now, Mei?"

Narumiya looked pissed. "I want to know why you're dancing with _him._" The way he said that made Sawamura feel like dirt.

"If you can dance with other people, so can I."

"Tetsu-san was nice enough to let you stay. The least you could do is behave yourself." Kuramochi cuts in.

Sawamura knew that was the wrong thing to say, because the air around them turned even chillier.

"Oh, I didn't know Yuuki was my master now." The guy's words were sharp now. "Just because you follow him around like a dog doesn't mean we all should be forced to."

Kuramochi was about to explode, and it was up to Sawamura to stop him. He shook off Kuramochi's hand and stepped in front of him, blocking him from the guy.

"Why are you so mad? We were only dancing." Sawamura reassured him.

"Yeah, we were only dancing." He could hear the mocking tone in the guy's voice. "Don't tell me, you've already given up on Kominato?"

Before Kuramochi could lunge at him, Narumiya interrupted by saying, "What about you? Why in the hell were you dancing with a Gryffindor?"

The guy scrunched his eyebrows. "When was I dancing with a Gryffindor?" Then his eyes widened and he addressed Sawamura. "Aren't you a Hufflepuff?"

Sawamura turned around and shook his head. "No, I'm a Gryffindor." The wheels started turning in his own head. Narumiya's weird possessiveness, Kuramochi's sudden hatred… "Wait, aren't you a Ravenclaw?"

Narumiya burst out laughing. "Kazuya's smart, sure, but he's too evil to be in Ravenclaw!"

"Mei."

"What, it's true!"

Kazuya, he guessed the guy's name was, sighed. "That's why you were so bothered. I apologize, Kuramochi. If I'd know he was a Gryffindor I wouldn't have gone near him. Now I'm afraid I might've caught something."

Narumiya gave him a onceover. "Stupidity, most likely."

Sawamura clenched his fist. He was so mad he was practically shaking. Gone was Kazuya's playful smile and gentle eyes, replaced by a cruel smirk and a carefully blank gaze. _What happened? What changed? _he wanted to ask him. But Kazuya wouldn't look at him, and he already knew the answer anyway.

He was a Gryffindor, and Kazuya was a Slytherin. It didn't get any simpler than that.

"You got your wish. We're leaving, this party sucks anyway." Narumiya grabbed Kazuya's hand. "Let's go."

Kuramochi crossed his arms. "Good. Don't come back next time." Once they were completely out the door he said, "Dammit, they make me wanna puke."

Sawamura stormed over to the punch bowl and drank a full cup of the mystery liquid in one cup. He was about to go for another round when Kuramochi stopped him.

He stole the drink from Sawamura's hand. "Slow down! We've still got practice tomorrow."

"I'm so mad! He was so nice when we were dancing, and then he turned into a huge asshole! Just because we're in rival Houses, we have to hate each other?" Sawamura let all his frustrations out.

"Those were his true colors. All Slytherins act like that, that's why we hate them." Kuramochi narrowed his eyes. "I leave you alone for five seconds and you've already managed to break one of the rules! I can't babysit you everywhere, Bakamura!"

"I told you I didn't know he was a Slytherin! Besides, we weren't fighting." Sawamura even tried to defend him. He definitely was the idiot in this situation.

"Let me say this clearly, in case you haven't managed to pick up on the most basic rule." Kuramochi held up four fingers. "Rule number four: no getting involved with Slytherins, if you know what I mean."

Sawamura did, and he blushed. "It wasn't like that!"

His face was grim. "It better not have been. I'm serious, Sawamura. You fall for one of them, and the team won't like it."

Kuramochi was wrong about him. That day he picked up on something without even having to ask: if he broke any of the rules, especially the last two, there would be consequences.

"Don't worry, Kuramochi-senpai. All Slytherins are horrible, right?"

If his heart twinged while he said that, he didn't feel it.

* * *

"-and if you want make me jealous, pick an actual Hufflepuff next time!"

Kazuya was only half listening, he admited, but he managed to catch that part. "How many times to I have to say it? I didn't know! And if you weren't giving me the cold shoulder I wouldn't have been dancing with anyone in the first place."

Mei scowled. "Don't act so innocent. You know what you did."

No, he didn't. All he knew was that Mei could hold a hell of a grudge. He didn't even think he was gonna be let in on the party crashing plan until Mei called him over. Kazuya thought that was a sign of forgiveness, then he caught him dancing with some random boy. Kazuya thought, _Two can play that game. _And here they were.

"I didn't think you noticed me." Mei said quietly.

This was it, a way in. "Of course I did. I'm always watching you, Mei."

Mei gave him a tiny smile. "Alright, I forgive you. Just don't do it again."

Whatever it was. "I won't."

Mei kissed him on cheek and he mentally cheers inside his head. When Mei iced him out that meant he was cut off from everyone, including his so called "friends". He'll finally have a place to sit at lunch again and people to walk to class with. But somehow, his joy is restrained by one thing.

He couldn't stop thinking about bright, golden eyes.

* * *

Both Sawamura and Miyuki tossed and turn in bed, unable to find a peaceful sleep.

They didn't realize it yet, they were changing inside, little by little.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **Happy holidays! So I totally forgot to post this chapter on here so enjoy two chapters in a row!

* * *

The great thing about Hogwarts being a huge castle is that it doesn't take long to find an empty room if you look hard enough.

The five fifth-years gather in a large study, empty and complete with tables, couches, and a fireplace. It's perfect for practicing magic, which is exactly what they use it for.

"I don't get what I'm doing wrong!" Sawamura slams down his wand. "Why do I have to do this? I'm never going to need to learn how to turn a match into a needle in the real world!"

"You'd be surprised, Eijun-kun." Haruichi says from across the room. He and Furuya are practicing spells for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Sawamura." A shiver races down Sawamura's spine as he feels the dark aura emanating from Kanemaru.

"Sorry, sorry! I'll pay attention now." He keeps repeating the spell, but the match only moves a bit.

Toujou laughs from where he's sitting against the wall. "Shinji, you have to be gentler. Sawamura isn't gonna learn anything if you keep yelling at him."

A vein throbs near Kanemaru's temple. "You teach him then! I've done everything I can and we're still at the basics."

"I can't, I've got a big test tomorrow." He flips through his Muggle Studies textbook. "Hey, Sawamura, can you tell me how cars work?"

Sawamura gives him a thumbs-up. "Later. First, please don't give up on me, Kanemaru! Professor said she'll break my broom if don't pass the next exam."

Kanemaru crosses his arms. "Alright. Let's try again."

A few hours later, Sawamura has graduated from struggling to turn a match into a needle to struggling to turn a pencil into a knife.

"Try harder! Even a baby can do this!" Kanemaru yells.

"I can't concentrate if you keep yelling at me! What kind of teacher are you?" Sawamura yells back.

"One that's getting tired of your shit!"

Sawamura crosses his arms. "Honestly, I'm starting to doubt how good you are at Transfiguration."

Kanemaru's eye twitches. "What did you say?"

"If you were any good, you'd be able to help me!" He knows he shouldn't take out his frustration on Kanemaru, but his mouth hasn't caught up to his brain.

"I'll show you how good I am!" Before Sawamura can blink, Kanemaru pulls out his wand and said, "_Canis Morphis!" _

With a squeak, Sawamura disappears into thin air.

A russet brown puppy emerges from the pile of Sawamura's clothes resting on the ground. The four of them freeze in unison, the only sounds being the puppy's high pitched barks.

"So that spell does work." Toujou says.

Everyone starts talking at once after that.

"Kanemaru-kun, what did you do to him?" Haruichi asks frantically.

"Sawamura...dog…" Furuya mumbles to himself.

Kanemaru grabs his own hair. "Toujou, you told me that spell gives people dog ears or a tail!"

"The prank book said the effects of the spell range from dog body parts to turning into an actual dog. But stuff from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes always overexaggerates, so I ignored it."

"Now look what happened!"

"This isn't my fault! I didn't tell you to put a curse on Eijun!"

While all this shouting was going on, Sawamura moves from the group to the corner, where Kuro is sleeping. Kuro's nose twitches as she caught the scent of dog. She opens one eye to see Sawamura's face right in front of hers.

"It takes a sizable amount power to physically change someone into an animal." Haruichi ponders.

"He must've put all his anger behind that spell." Toujou muses with him. "You have a lot of pent up anger, huh, Shinji?"

Kanemaru raises his head high. "Maybe I'm just that powerful of a wizard.

"..."

"..."

"You guys are about to join Sawamura."

Sawamura barks happily and licks Kuro's face. She stares at him, then closes her eyes again.

"If Sawamura is a dog, he can't play Quidditch." Furuya states.  
"Furuya-kun, that's not the point right now. We need to figure out how to change him back." Haruichi pulls out his wand. "A simple reversal spell should work."

Kanemaru goes to the corner and picks up Sawamura, who would not stop wriggling. "Let's try it."

They stand in a circle around the dog and fling every spell they can think of at him.

"_Reverso!"_

"_Convertus!"_

"_Verto!" _

"_Transformo Transfiguro!"_

Sawamura barks, tail swishing back and forth. They all let out a long exhale in exhaustion. Kanemaru falls to his knees. "What are we going to do?"

"We can't go to a teacher," Toujou says. "We'll all get in big trouble."

"Going to a teacher will be our last resort." Haruichi thinks it over. "Even if it's a powerful spell, it's still a joke spell. Someone more powerful than us should be able to break it."

"We could ask one of the upperclassmen. They might be able to help." Toujou suggests.

While they're talking, Sawamura padds back up Kuro and begins pouncing on her tail.

"Miyuki-senpai would help us." Furuya offers.

A chill goes through all of them immediately.

Haruichi shakes his head. "I don't think that's a good idea, Furuya-kun."

Miyuki would be a great option for help. Everyone, teachers and students alike, know that Miyuki has magical powers that far surpass those of people his age. Not only that, he has a knack for storing massive amounts of information and the ability to recall it in a second. It's a skill that makes a Miyuki not only a prodigy at Quiddith, but a dictionary when it comes to spells. If any student can fix this, it would be him.

However, Miyuki has a notoriously vindictive personality. There's no way to say "we turned your boyfriend into a dog and we don't know how to turn him back please help us" without getting blown to pieces, on principal.

"Are you crazy, Furuya? Miyuki-senpai would slaughter us if he found out." Kanemaru says.

"_I _didn't do anything." Furuya murmurs to himself.

Kuro opens one eye to peer at Sawwamura. In the next moment, the cat flips around, unsheathes her claws, and slashes Sawamura across his face. Sawamura whimpers softly, running a paw over the cut on his nose. He moves away from Kuro swiftly and slips out through a crack in the study room door.

"For now, I'll try to ask Aniki for information without telling him too much about the situation." The sound of a bell filtered into the room. "That's lunch. Let's tie Eijun-kun up for the time being."

Toujou shudders. "This feels kind of wrong."

"We don't have much of a choice!" Kanemaru exclaims.

Furuya looks around. "Where's Sawamura?"

Kanemura glances down at empty space where Sawamura had been. "He disappeared!"

The four of them go frantically around the room, overturning couches and flipping over tables to search for Sawamura.

"Have you seen him, Kuro?" Furuya asks. Kuro shook her head and turned onto her side.

Finally, they have to come to terms with the fact that they've lost the one thing they were supposed to take care of, which brings the mood down even further.

Toujou tries to cheer the group up as they slunk out the door by saying, "Maybe he'll turn up on the way to lunch."

"I hope so." Haruichi sighs. "Let's go to lunch."

* * *

However losing Sawamura is just the beginning of their problems.

"Little Kominato! Furuya! Wait up!" a voice calls out.

All four of them froze as they turn around to see Miyuki and Kuramochi walking up to them.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll take care of it." Haruichi tells Kanemaru and Toujou. They nods and go along with the crowd.

"Hello, Miyuki-senpai, Kuramochi-senpai." Haruichi greets. Furuya gives a head nod to the both of them.

"Yo." Miyuki looks off to Furuya's side. "You're one Musketeer short. Where's Sawamura?"

Haruichi forces himself to relax. "He needs to study for his Transfiguration test, so he's skipping lunch."

He moves to walked away, but Miyuki is quicker. "Sawamura? Skipping lunch to study? I thought I'd seen everything." he laughs to himself. "I better go visit him before he hurts himself trying to use his brain. What room is he in?"

"No, you can't!" Haruichi blurts out, much to the surprise of Miyuki, Furuya, even himself. "I mean, Eijun-kun needs to study without any distractions."

"I'll make sure no one distracts him." Miyuki replies drily. "Tell me where he is."

"I—I can't tell you that."

Kuramochi whistles low behind Miyuki. "Looks like you're in hot water, Miyuki. What'd you do this time?"

"I haven't done anything recently." Miyuki's eyes flicked up, thinking. "At least, I don't _think _I have."

Now Miyuki looks concerned. "Kominato, did Sawamura tell you why he was mad at me?"

Haruichi's mouth opens and closes. "He just wants to be alone right now," he finishes lamely.

That's the wrong thing to say, as it makes Miyuki look even more confused. Thankfully, Kuramochi pushes him forward saying, "Come on, you can practice your flower spells while we eat." They move on ahead, but Miyuki is still lost in thought.

Haruichi puts his head in his hands. "I messed up! Now Miyuki-senpai is going to look all over for Eijun-kun."

Furuya puts his hand on Haruichi's shoulder. "It'll be okay."

The warmth from Furuya's touch calms him down instantly. "You're right. I'm sure we'll find a way to turn him back."

At that moment, Furuya's stomach rumbles, making Haruichi laugh. "Let's eat, I'm starving." Haruichi said.

The questions don't stop once they got to lunch either.

"Where's Sawamura-kun? I need help with my Muggle Studies homework." Haruno asks as she sits down.

The group tenses up in unison again. "He's busy with his own homework." Kanemaru responds.

Haruno laughs. "Sawamura-kun would never skip food for homework. When is he getting here?"

"There are other half-bloods in this school." Kanemaru says. "Ask them."

A girl sitting next to Haruno whispers loudly, "I heard Miyuki-senpai and Sawamura had a fight."

"Again? It must be serious if he didn't come to lunch." She shakes her head. "Poor Sawamura, Miyuki-senpai is too insensitive!"

Haruichi pales, watching as his lie single-handedly tears Sawamura's relationship down. _Forgive me, Eijun-kun. _

The girls continue to argue about Miyuki and Sawamura's relationship.

"I wonder what happened this time?"

"Miyuki-kun was a jerk, Sawamura got hurt. It's the same thing every time."

"It can't be that bad or Miyuki-senpai wouldn't be at lunch either."

"They're gonna break up if they keep going like this."

"I don't know," Haruno speaks up. "Fighting and making up...doesn't that make a relationship more passionate?"

The girls murmur in agreement.

"Don't worry, Haruichi." Toujou says, grabbing his attention. "Sawamura will fix this after we turn him back."

* * *

Miyuki walks down the hallway, alone.

He's seriously, seriously confused. For the first time ever, Miyuki can say without a doubt that he has done nothing wrong to piss off Sawamura, at least not enough to warrant Sawamura avoiding him. Granted, they almost got into a fight yesterday, but that ended before it even started.

The root of it was the same problem that plagued all couples in Hogwarts: the desire to be alone. Aside from Hogsmeade weekends, they was hardly any place to have a real date. Miyuki and Sawamura had to compete with every other couple in school for empty classrooms, hallways, even empty patches of grass. Not to mention that Sawamura had become the mascot of Gryffindor, which meant that whenever they hung out in semi-public places he felt eyes on his back, usually from girls. Some of them were like that with every couple, some stared at him like they were waiting to see if was gonna confess his undying love to Sawamura. It killed the mood, every time.

At that time, it had been a week since he had been alone with Sawamura. He had Quidditch and schoolwork and Prefect duties, Sawamura spent all his time studying to keep off of academic probation. They hadn't done more than hold hands in that week. It felt like years since he had kissed Sawamura, and that was something he needed to fix that immediately.

"Hey, I need to show you something." Miyuki said as he stopped by the table where Sawamura sat at with his friends.

Sawamura blushed, then stood up so abruptly that his chair toppled over. "Yes, let's go!"

The loud noise of the chair as it hit the ground caught everyone's attention. They took in Sawamura's red face and Miyuki's exasperated expression, and all at once wolf whistles and jeers filled the common room.

"Don't stay out too long, Miyuki! You're still a Prefect!" Jun shouted at them from across the room.

"Remember to use protection," Ryousuke said, which made Kuramochi shudder and say, "Gross, Ryou-san!"

Miyuki pulled Sawamura out of the room before he melted into a puddle of embarrassment. He dragged him down the hallway until they were far enough away.

He faced Sawamura. "What part of _I want us to hang out without calling too much attention ourselves _didn't you understand?"

"I'm sorry! It was the first time you used the code word." He pulled his wrist out of Miyuki's grip and looked down at the ground. "I got excited."

Miyuki hadn't expected him to say that. His face betrays him, as he feels it getting warm against his will. _Damn. Why does he have to be cute at the worst moments?_

"Wait. You were using the code word, right?"

Miyuki used this opportunity to slip his fingers in between Sawamura's. "Yes."

They came up with a word (or sentence really) to casually asked to be alone together. It was so everyone wasn't alerted the minute Miyuki and Sawamura wanted to go off together. Unfortunately, he underestimated Sawamura's inability to keep a secret.

Miyuki led him through the school until they stopped in front of a large door.

"This door looks familiar…What is this place?" Sawamura asked.

The truthful answer was, it was a place he tried his very best not to come back. It was a place that was filled with mixed emotions, good memories and bad. He had been successful in staying away from there so far, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

To Sawamura he said, "A convenient place."

He opened the door to reveal a large living room like area, complete with a fireplace already crackling with fire and soft-looking couches. The lighting was dimmed, which seemed to enhance the romantic mood.

"It always has what I need." Miyuki murmured to himself.

Sawamura looked around the room in awe. "This room is amazing! I can't believe no one else has snatched it up yet."

"Not everyone knows how to find it." Miyuki said as Sawamura sat in front of the fireplace.

"What, did you put a cloaking spell on this room? Or wait did you _create _it?" Sawamura stared at him in wonder.

Miyuki laughed. "Sawamura, even a wizard like Dumbledore couldn't create a new room in this castle. No one is that strong."

"If anyone could do it, it's you. Your magic breathes like it's alive, almost like it's its own person. It's amazing." Sawamura smiled to himself. "I think you're the coolest when you're doing magic."

Miyuki didn't know what to say to that. Only Sawamura, with his bright expression and earnest words, made him forget how to be his usual snarky self. Of course, it didn't take him long to remember.

Miyuki sat down next to him. "Say that last part again, I didn't hear you clearly enough."

Sawamura's face soured. "No way! You just wanna hear me call you cool again."

"That hurts, Sawamura. I'm not that vain."

Sawamura sighed. "Fine. I think you're the coolest when you're doing magic, alright?" He saw the smug look on Miyuki's face and said, "See, I knew it!"

Miyuki kissed him on the lips. "Thanks, Sawamura, but I doubt I'll ever make a room like this. It's called the Room of Requirement, 'equipped with whatever the seeker needs' something like that. It changes based on who finds it."

He noticed that Sawamura stiffened. "The Room of Requirement?" Sawamura repeated.

"You've heard of it? People thought it disappeared after the Battle of Hogwarts, but I think it just picked a new spot deeper in the castle. I found it with a friend a couple of years ago."

Sawamura got up suddenly. "I have to go."

Sawamura was already halfway to the door before his words hit Miyuki. He ran up to Sawamura and grabbed his arm.

"Sawamura, stop! What's wrong?" He held tight to Sawamura despite his struggles.

"Let go of me!" He ripped his arm out of Miyuki's grip and went for the door again.

"Who was the one who lectured me about communication and being honest?" The words made Sawamura pause. "Don't run away. Tell me what's wrong."

Sawamura stayed still for a moment, which had Miyuki holding his breath. Then he turned around furiously, "I don't wanna do anything with you in the same place you took that white haired bastard!"

Miyuki's stomach dropped from under him. "What?"

"Narumiya's brought me here before. He told me all about what you two _did _here." Sawamura wouldn't look at him as he said that.

_Wow, Mei really did try his hardest to wreck my relationship. _Miyuki thought to himself. He should've trusted his gut and stay away from the Room of Requirement.

"I was really looking forward to this! I feel like we haven't really talked in awhile and I kinda...sorta...missed you. But you ruined it!" Sawamura scuffed his shoes against the floor. "All I can think about is how much you've done with him, and how much we haven't done. I know it's stupid, but being in this room feels wrong."

"Okay, let's leave."

"You don't have to call me unreasonable. I'm trying to share my true feelings and you—" Sawamura cut himself off, mid-rant. "Wait, what? You're not gonna argue?"

"I'm not gonna force you to come somewhere that makes you uncomfortable. I'm not _that_ much of a monster." Miyuki stepped closer. "The truth is, I haven't been here in awhile for the same reason. I have some bad memories of this room, but it's always been my favorite place in the whole school. I thought it'd be nice to come here again and make it our own."

"Miyuki…"

"You're right, Sawamura. It feels wrong, being here again. I want us to find a room that we can call our own." Miyuki brushed his knuckles down the side of Sawamura's face. "After all, I only want you to think of me when we're alone together."

Sawamura hugged him with a wide smile. "Thanks, Miyuki. Sorry for trying to leave without hearing your side."

Miyuki hugged him back. "Communication, right?" He gave himself a small fist pump behind Sawamura's back. Once every couple of blue moons, Miyuki managed to say the exact right thing that not only avoided a fight, but also kicked the mood back up.

Case in point, the next thing Sawamura said was, " There's still some time before dinner. Let's go find a hallway or something!"

So they went and did just that. And made out. Then did a little more than making out. He remembers wondering if Sawamura would ever let him take it all the way, then thanking God that he had gotten this far already.

The point was, he and Sawamura weren't fighting. Hell, they even talked this morning!

On the way to breakfast, he caught Sawamura walking with his friends. Miyuki ran up and threw an arm around him, whispering in his ear, "Sa-wa-mu-ra."

Sawamura jumped. "Miyuki, I told you to stop doing that!"

Haruichi and Furuya went on ahead of them, knowing the drill. "It's not my fault you get scared so easily."

"Why can't you walk up and say hi like a normal person?"

"I could, but that'd be boring."

Sawamura glared at him, and Miyuki gave him a cocky smile right back. Then Sawamura rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever."

They walked down the hallway together with Miyuki's arm still around his shoulders.

"After breakfast, let's go to the courtyard. We could sneak some food out of the kitchen and have a mini-picnic." Miyuki said.

Sawamura visibly brightened at the suggestion, then deflated. "I can't. I have to study for my Transfiguration test tomorrow. And before you say it, no way—" he said, cutting off Miyuki before he even opened his mouth, "—am I letting you help me study. You can't be trusted."

Miyuki laughed. "Sawamura, trust is the foundation of any good relationship."

"You can't be trusted to keep your hands to yourself." He glared at the hand on his shoulder like it was personal affront. "I already asked Kanemaru to help me."

Miyuki shrugged. "Fine, your loss. I'll share the extra food with Kuramochi." To be honest, he was a little disappointed. It wasn't often he had a literally free day, so he wanted to spend it with Sawamura.

Sawamura glanced at him. "We can do it, after I'm finishing studying. If you still want to."

Miyuki smiled. "We'll see."

Maybe between the morning and lunch, Sawamura started thinking too hard? He was known to do that and come to all types of wrong conclusions. If that's the case, that means Miyuki has to find him as fast as possible before the whole thing gets blown out of proportion.

Somehow, his thoughts keep getting interrupted by a shrill barking sound. He thinks he's going crazy, till the barking gets louder. He looks down to see a small dog staring up at him.

"A dog?" He kneels down and pets its head. "Since when are dogs allowed at school?"

The dog is very friendly, barking happily and licking his palm. He notices that it has brilliant gold eyes, an odd color for a dog.

"Huh." he says to himself.

He could have a lot of fun with this.

* * *

"Aniki, I need to talk to you."

Ryousuke stops as Haruichi and Furuya run up to him in the hallway. "What is it?"

Haruichi and Furuya glance at each other. "We're...doing a project for Transfiguration. We need to know the best way to reverse a spell on a human. One that's been turned into something else."

Ryousuke's sharp gaze pierces through them. "That's very specific for a Transfiguration project."

Thankfully, Furuya steps in for him. "We have to research the effects of transformation spells on humans."

Ryousuke turns away. "I'm not a library. Figure out for yourself."

"Aniki, please!"

Once again, he stops and sighs. "It depends on what the person has been transformed into. Give me an example."

"Like if someone has been turned into an animal. A dog, for example." Haruichi adds casually.

"The process of changing man into animal, then back again is a complicated type of Transfiguration magic. Most reversal spells won't work when it comes to that. It'd be better to use a strong potion revert the effects of a transformation spell."

"What type of potion?" Haruichi asks, a little too earnestly.

"Are you doing a Potions project now?" he shoots back, making Haruichi look down.

Ryousuke sighs. "You can drop the act, Haruichi. I know what this is about."

Both Haruichi and Furuya snap their heads up. "You do?"

"Obviously. You're bad at lying." After a couple of beats, Ryousuke continues, "You're trying to become Animagi."

Haruichi smiles with visible relief. "We're not trying to become Animagi."

Ryousuke ignores him. "It's not as simple as it sounds. It's tricky and painful magic, I know from experience. Find another way to entertain yourself."

"We're not trying to become Animagi! Wait, did _you_ try to—"

Ryousuke is saved from having answer that question by Kuramochi running up to the three of them.

"Ryou-san, you gotta come to the common room!" Kuramochi says. "Miyuki found some dog and the guys are casting spells on it."

Ryousuke smiles. "That sounds mean."

"Admit it, you're glad I got you."

Haruichi and Furuya look at each other at the same time.

"Thanks for the help, Aniki!" Haruichi yells back as he and Furuya took off running down the hallway.

"Did I come in the middle of something important?" Kuramochi asks, confused.

"No, nothing much. Haruichi tried to trick me into helping him become an Animagus."

They set off down the hallway, calmer than the previous pair. "Seriously? You should've told him how bad it went we all tried it. You left trails of feathers all over the place for we—"

"Kuramochi." Ryousuke cuts in, and the ice cold tone of his voice sends goosebumps down his spine. "We don't talk about that night ever, remember?"

"Right, sorry."

* * *

They hightail it to the common room and it's just as Haruichi had feared.

Sawamura is hovering in the air while a crowd of people circle around him, laughing and fawning over him.

Haruichi forces his way through the crowd and shouts, "Ei—" before realizing that it isn't the best idea to refer to the dog by Sawamura's name. He finishes quietly by saying, "Eiji."

Miyuki, who is the one levitating Sawamura, says, "Is this your dog, Kominato?"

"Um, yes. Thanks for finding him, I've been looking all over." Haruichi clears his throat. "I need to feed him now so…"

"Kominato-kun, I didn't know you had a dog!" Haruno says, coming up next to him. "Eiji is a weird name for a pet, though. When did you get him?"

"Yes, when did you get a dog, Haruichi?" his brother's voice sounds from behind him. "This is the first I've heard of it."

At this point, it's taking everything in him not to panic. "I—I found it eating out the trash behind The Three Broomsticks. I couldn't let stay out in the cold."

Miyuki jumps back into the conversation. "Regardless, dogs aren't on the list of permitted animals allowed at Hogwarts. I should write you up for this."

The room falls deathly silent at that. Then Miyuki smiles and adds, "But I'll let it go if we get to play with him."

Everyone lets out a sigh. Kuramochi walks up and punches Miyuki's shoulder. "Don't scare us like that! I thought you gonna start doing your job for once."

Miyuki puts the dog back on the ground. "I will, when it stops being fun to abuse my powers."

Haruichi and Furuya have no choice but to stand and watch as their classmates take turns petting and playing with Sawamura, despite their best efforts to steal him away.

"Guys!" Haruichi turns around to see Kanemaru and Toujou running up to them.

"We heard that the upperclassmen found a dog." Toujou lowers his voice. "Tell me it's not Sawamura."

"It's him." Furuya confirms. He pointed behind him, where Sawamura floats in the air again with bright yellow fur.

"Good, we found him. Let's take him back to the study." Kanemaru said.

"They aren't gonna let us walk out with him without an explanation." Haruichi thought it over. "We need a distraction."

"What, like a loud noise?" Kanemaru suggests.

"I don't think a loud noise is gonna give us enough time to do anything."

"I have an idea." Toujou speaks up. Loudly he says, "It's not fair that we aren't allowed to bring our dogs to school. What can a cat do that a dog can't?"

"Yeah, I've always thought that." A girl nearby agrees. "Dogs are just as useful as cats."

"That's not true. Cats are much more nimble than dogs." Kawakami speaks up.

Kuramochi laughs. "Your fat cat is the farthest thing away from nimble, Nori."

"He's not fat! He's just a little...tubby. And he still does more than any dog!"

"Yeah, right. At least dogs are more friendly! My cat scratches me whenever I go to pet her." Fujiwara says. "I would've brought a puppy if I had the option."

Miyuki gets into the argument now. "Cats have a history with magic. Dogs don't do anything."

"Dogs offer emotional support! Cats only care about themselves." Natsukawa backs her up.

"Cats are better." Furuya states simply.

The entire room explodes into a flurry of arguments. In the mess, Sawamura is left wandering around on the ground. Furuya quickly picks him up, and the four of them rush out of the common room.

When they feel like they've gotten far enough, they stop to catch their breath. "That actually worked." Kanemaru says in disbelief.

Haruichi nods. "Great diversion, Toujou."

Toujou smiles. "Thanks. I got into a heated argument with Haruno about that once, that's where I got the idea."

"Yeah, that was a smart move."

They all whip around to see Miyuki leaning against the wall.

"Miyuki-senpai?" Haruichi stutters out. "When—How—"

"I was right," Miyuki pushes himself off the wall. "It was pretty funny at first, but that's passed now. Now, I'm really, really, pissed."

He says that with a smile on his face, which sends a chill through the hall.

"Um, what's wrong?" Toujou tries to ask as innocently as possible.

"Hey, I'm already pissed off. Don't treat me like an idiot." At the same time he says that, Sawamura wriggles out of Furuya's grasp and runs up to Miyuki.

Miyuki kneels down to scratch behind the dog's ears. "Good boy, Sawamura."

"You knew?" The four of them say at the same time.

"Again, I'm not stupid." Miyuki stands up. "Tell me exactly what happened."

Defeated, Haruichi explains the whole story to him. "Unless you have another spell we haven't thought of, it's no use. We tried everything."

"You guys are idiots." Miyuki sighs. "It's a joke spell, the effects of it aren't permanent. It weakens by the hour. By this point, it should have worn out enough for a basic reversal spell to work."

He brandishes his wand and says, _"Transformo Transfiguro!"_

As soon as the spell hit, the dog's form begins to shift and grow until it's the real Sawamura kneeling on the ground, naked.

His friends go to catch him as he started swaying to the left. "Sawamura, you're back!" Kanemaru says in relief.

"Tired." Sawamura mumbles back. Together, they helped him stand up.

Miyuki steps forward. "I've been looking for you all day."

"You knew?"

"Well, I'd know your eyes anywhere."

Sawamura smiles. "Miyuki." He reached a hand out…

...and punches the top of Miyuki's head as hard as he can.

"Ow!" he clutches his head and stumbles backwards. "What the hell was that for?"

"You knew! You knew I was a dog and let Onii-san turn my skin yellow and you let those girls poke and squeeze me and you even floated me in the air!"

"Wait, you remember all of that?"

Sawamura scrunches his eyebrows. "Yeah, it was weird. It was like my regular brain and my dog brain were mixed together."

"So, not much of a difference."

His friends have to pull all their strength together to hold Sawamura back. "Let me go! I'm really gonna kill him this time!"

"Eijun-kun, you're still naked…"

* * *

Sawamura forgives him enough sit with Miyuki at breakfast the next day, but stays mad enough to give him the cold shoulder the whole time.

"Come on, I said I was sorry!" Miyuki says, putting an arm around him. "Can't we move on?"

"Girls were rubbing my belly, Miyuki. One girl squeezed me so tight I thought I was gonna die."

"You'd do the same thing if it were me."

"No, I wouldn't, because only a cruel and sadistic person would do that!"

"Aw, thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment!"

"Great, the lovebirds are back." Kuramochi plops down in the seat across from them. "What landed Miyuki in the doghouse this time?"

Sawamura reaches around to grip the front of Miyuki's shirt. "One pun, and I'm breaking up with you."

Miyuki waved his hands in a placating manner. "I was just going to say, I really missed you, Sawamura."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **reminder: slytherin!miyuki is every other chapter.

* * *

Miyuki slumped down in his seat for Defense Against the Dark Arts. This weekend had been hell, having to deal with Quidditch and Mei separately and at the same time. The only time he got to relax was at that party, and that turned out to be a huge mess.

Speaking of, Kuramochi dropped down in the seat next to him right as the bell rang. Miyuki smirked as Kuramochi panted, obviously out of breath from running to class. He waited to make sure everyone's attention was on the professor.

Without turning his head, he said, "Made it by the skin of your teeth again, huh, Kuramochi?"

Kuramochi said nothing back, not even a growl. That was a surprise, since Miyuki couldn't sigh without getting a rise out of him. _He must've not have heard me,_ Miyuki decided.

When the teacher turned around to write something on the chalkboard, he said, "That was some party on Friday. I've still got a headache from whatever was in those drinks."

Kuramochi stared straight ahead, no sign that he acknowledged Miyuki's words. He knew for a fact that Kuramochi had heard him that time, which meant Kuramochi was ignoring him on purpose.

"Did I do something to piss you off?" he asked quietly. "You know, more than usually?"

Kuramochi slanted his eyes in Miyuki's direction. "What do you think, asshole?" He didn't say anything else.

"Well? Tell me what I did. It's not good to keep all that anger bottled up inside."

"I knew you were an asshole," Kuramochi growled. "All Slytherins are assholes. But I didn't think you were as bad as your snake-faced boyfriend and his friends. Those guys get off on messing with people for kicks. I should've known you were just like them."

Miyuki paused. "Please tell me this isn't about the guy I danced with at the party."

"You don't even know his name."

Miyuki groaned as silently as he could. "My gravestone is going to say 'Miyuki Kazuya—danced with a Gryffindor boy once'."

"I'm not joking around with you."

"You'd laugh too, if everyone around made a big deal about an honest mistake."

"Yeah, out of everyone you "accidentally" picked one of ours."

"I'm being serious." Miyuki hissed.

"Miyuki, Kuramochi, do you have something you'd like to share with the class?" The professor interrupted.

Everyone turned to look at him, including Narumiya. He was sitting farther up, and narrowed his eyes at the thought of the two of them talking.

Miyuki put on his charismatic smile. "Sorry, Professor. Kuramochi was bothering me again."

"Perhaps your problem would be solved if you weren't talking at all." She went back to writing on the board. "Any more disruptions and I'll take points away from Gryffindor and Slytherin."

Miyuki waited until the class's attention was fully off of them before speaking quietly again. "All my problems with Gryffindor get handled on the Quidditch field. You don't have to trust me, Kuramochi, but you can trust that. I danced with that guy because I didn't know what House he was and I didn't care. I just wanted to have fun." _And I did have fun. _he thought, but he kept that to himself.

Kuramochi glared at him. "Do you mean that?"

Miyuki met his gaze. "I've got no reason to lie."

He'd like to pretend that he couldn't care less about what Kuramochi thought of him, that talking to him was a headache anyway. But he knew there was no point in lying to himself.

From his first year, Miyuki had always had Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors. That beginning year, the teacher assigned seats so that no one would be sitting with someone in their house. Miyuki got Kuramochi. They truly did dislike each other at first—Miyuki thought he was too brash, Kuramochi thought he was entitled. Kuramochi took everything Miyuki said as a personal insult, so every class ended in a fight and detention.

Somehow, in between their fights they ended up having real conversations. He found out that Kuramochi loved watching Quidditch as much as he loved playing. Also, he could be pretty funny when he wanted to. Miyuki lost track of how many times he had to smother his laughter to keep from drawing attention to himself. The next year, they were allowed to choose their seats. They both ended up being late to class, and had to take the last two seats at the back of the class. They ended up sitting next to each other, the year after that, and the year after that, grumbling about it a little less each time.

As sad as it was to say, Kuramochi might be his only real friend. All his House friends were either Mei's friends first or wanted something out of him. He was the only person Miyuki could drop the mask with. He wasn't sure what he'd do if Kuramochi kept giving him the silent treatment.

So he let out an internal sigh of relief when Kuramochi said, "Fine, whatever."

Miyuki leaned back in his seat. "Good. It was an honest mistake."

"Yeah, it makes sense. Sawamura's the worse person to choose for a prank." Kuramochi snickered to himself. "He might actually take you seriously."

Miyuki hummed in agreement. "His name was Sawamura?"

Kuramochi's gaze turned fierce again. "Don't worry about it."

Miyuki shrugged. "Just wondering."

While the teacher droned on, Miyuki let his mind drift away.

_Sawamura. _he smiled to himself. _The boy with the golden eyes._

* * *

History of Magic had been killing Sawamura lately.

He felt like he had a paper due every other week, on top of struggling not to fall asleep from Professor Binns' monotone voice. This time, he had to go to the library to look at some old newspapers for his research paper to get some "quality" secondary sources.

The periodical section was dusty and smelled as old as it looked, but surprisingly it carried recent newspaper editions. That was how Sawamura accidentally came upon an issue of the Daily Prophet that had Miyuki's face front and center on the cover. It was a great photo, taken in action. Miyuki was in full Quidditch gear, raising his fist up after making a stunning block.

Sawamura spluttered at first, not expecting to see Miyuki again so soon (whether it was in a picture or anything else). Quickly, Sawamura looked to his left and right to ensure that no one else was in the aisle with him. He reached out and picked up the newspaper against his better judgement.

It was an article from two years ago, about the Slytherins advancement into Internationals. Sawamura only vaguely remembered that event, since it was back when he wasn't into Quidditch much at all. He definitely remembered the mourning period his House went through, because it was supposed to be them going to Internationals. The article went on to talk about The Slytherin team's chances of winning it all and the rising stars within the team, one of them being Miyuki.

_Miyuki Kazuya, _Sawamura thought to himself. _So that's his full name. _He blushed looking at the pictures that featured Miyuki, including one where he laughed as his teammates picked him up. It wasn't fair that a jerk like him could be so attractive, especially when he's smiling. No, Sawamura wasn't allowed to think things like that anymore. Even if Miyuki's Quidditch uniform made him look that much more powerful.

Sawamura shook his head furiously. He slapped both his cheeks. _Wake up! Slytherins are bad and Miyuki is awful! _This had been his mantra every time Miyuki came to his mind. He didn't know why he couldn't get that jerk out of his head. It was bad enough being used for some sick game Miyuki was playing with his boyfriend, but worse was how bad the upperclassmen teased him afterwards. He had no good memories of that party, none! Except for maybe the excitement of being twirled around, and the sound of Miyuki's laugh. He allowed himself to think that, at least.

He didn't look like an asshole in these pictures, Sawamura noted. The pictures showed Miyuki and his teammates shoving each other playing and laughing. One showed Miyuki and Narumiya high-fiving, which made Sawamura feel funny for a second. In these pictures, the Slytherin team didn't look any different than the Gryffindor team, except for the fact that they were wearing green.

Sawamura put the newspaper back. He'd been reading the article for too long.

* * *

"Pick up the speed, Sawamura! You're in the first string now!" Coach shouted at him.

Sawamura gripped his broom tighter. The wood handle dug into his hands, leaving a small ache. Each breath he took physically pained him, but he pushed his pain aside to another corner of his mind. All he concentrated on was getting faster. The feeling of being faster than anyone on the field, the thought of being the one who won the game for the whole team, that was what kept him moving.

"You're going slower, Sawamura!"

The minute practice was over, Sawamura collapsed onto the ground. From his peripheral vision, he watched as cleats began to circle around him.

"Eijun-kun, let me help you up." Haruichi said. Sawamura groaned in reply.

Kuramochi poked Sawamura's side with his foot. "Get up, Sawamura! This is nothing compared to training camp."

Ryousuke added viciously, "No one said being in the first string would be easier. That's why Coach cuts people the first week."

Sawamura's face paled, which made Kuramochi laugh. "Cold, Ryou-san!"

Furuya and Haruichi pulled him up as the upperclassmen walked away. "Don't mind Aniki. I don't think Coach would cut players he just moved up to the first string." Haruichi assured.

It wasn't the most encouraging thing Haruichi had ever said to him. "I need to get better before Coach thinks he made a mistake moving me up."

"Don't overdo it, or you'll end up hurting yourself."

"You don't have to try so hard. I'll be the starting Seeker anyway." Furuya said, which got him a yelling Sawamura in his ears.

Despite his friends' words, Sawamura spent the next couple of days thinking about what he could do. Where he was at now, he couldn't compare to Tanba, Kawakami, or Furuya (though he'd never say it out loud). He knew Coach had his eyes on him, waiting to see if Sawamura would let him down. Sawamura wanted show him that he could be a Seeker Coach could depend on.

So, he came up with a plan. Haruichi would probably say it's a terrible plan and warn him not to do it, which is why he hid it from Haruichi. He felt guilty for keeping it from him, especially after asking to borrow his copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages. _

"You can borrow it as long as you like," Haruichi said as he handed him the book. "You read it more than I do."

Overcome with emotion, Sawamura hugged him with tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Haruichi!"

Haruichi patted his back awkwardly. "No problem?"

The second part of the plan required stealth, luck, and his wand. He acted like his normal self after dinner and stayed up late chatting with his friends in the dorms. He waited patiently as his classmates fell asleep around him. Once Kanemaru began snoring, he sprang out of bed, grabbing his broom from where he stashed it underneath. Slowly, he slipped out the door and crept down to the common room.

"_Aparecium," _Sawamura whispered to himself. His clothes changed from his pajamas to his Quidditch sweater and pants. He glanced back to make sure no one had followed him, then rushed out the front door.

He kept running until he got outside, all the up to the Quidditch Arena. Sawamura took a deep breath and pulled out his wand.

"Kuramochi, you better not be lying." he said to himself. He pressed his wand against the lock and said, "_Alohomora." _

The lock clicked open. Sawamura cheered loudly before slapping a hand over his mouth. _I can't believe it's that easy. _he thought to himself. The field was his and his alone, just like that.

He pulled out _Quidditch Through the Ages _and flipped to a bookmarked page, the chapter on Quidditch tactics.

"Let's go!"

* * *

For the next couple of weeks, Sawamura snuck out to the Quidditch field after everyone went to bed. He spent most of his time improving his speed and picking up new tricks. Already, Coach had complimented him on his increased stamina. He still picked Furuya to start in the practice game against Ravenclaw, a sign that meant Sawamura still had a long way to go.

He yawned as he walked up to the gate. _I thought those guys were never going to go to sleep. _he thought. He tapped his wand to the lock, only to realize the gate was already open. He entered and saw someone zipping through the air. The person dived down suddenly before arcing up effortlessly, without losing their balance. Sawamura had to admire the person's mesmerizing form, until he remembered that he was supposed to be angry.

"Hey! You're not supposed to be here!" Sawamura shouted.

The person stopped where they were. "Who's there?"

"None of your business!" Sawamura responded.

The person shot forward in his direction and again Sawamura had to be impressed with his speed. Then he got a good look at the person's face.

"Miyuki Kazuya!"

Miyuki hopped off his broom. "It's good to know how popular I am."

"What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here after curfew."

"The same reason you're here, I'm guessing."

Sawamura rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. You're already a great Keeper, what do you need more practice for?"

"I didn't know you were a fan of mine, Sawamura."

He opened his mouth to tell Miyuki he was just as big of an asshole as people said he was. What he ended up mumbling was: "I didn't know you knew my name."

Miyuki chuckled. "I wouldn't forget it."

Sawamura forgot what he was going to say, and settled for stupidly staring at Miyuki. However, it seemed like Miyuki decided to the same thing because he wasn't saying anything either.

Then Sawamura shook off all his confused thoughts. "You should leave. I was here first."

"Technically, I was here first."

"You know what I mean! I've been coming here longer than you have, so you should be the one to leave."

Miyuki mounted his broom. "Look, I don't mind sharing. As long as we don't knock into each other, I'll stay in my lane and you can stay in yours."

Sawamura crossed his arms. "I'm not comfortable practicing Quidditch moves in front of someone from another team.

He turned red with anger when Miyuki laughed in his face. "Don't flatter yourself, Sawamura. My team did go to Internationals, and it wasn't from copying the moves of second-string rookie."

Miyuki flew up before Sawamura could say anything else. "I'm not leaving. If it bothers you so much, you should be the one that goes."

As frustrating as it was, he couldn't make Miyuki leave. The only thing left to was mount his broom and start practicing.

* * *

The next week, Sawamura ran into Miyuki again at the field. They stayed out of each other's ways like Miyuki promised. When he felt he had trained enough, he lowered himself back down to the ground. Miyuki lowered himself down too a minute after.

Sawamura wasn't sure if he should say goodnight or walk away without saying anything. He settled on simply stating, "I'm going to bed."

Miyuki gave him a brief nod. Sawamura headed to the gate and was about to leave, only to be stopped by the sound of Miyuki's voice.

"Put your right hand in front of your left when you're holding your broom and keep them an equal distance apart. That way, you'll be able to keep your balance when you try some of those trickier moves."

Sawamura's mouth flopped open and closed. "I don't want your advice!" he said, pointing at Miyuki.

Miyuki shrugged. "Whatever. I won't be the one to catch you when you fall."

"Wouldn't it be better for you if I fall?" Sawamura looked down at the ground. "I mean, we're enemies."

Miyuki scoffed. "I keep telling you, don't get ahead of yourself. You're nothing to me right now. And you're definitely nothing compared to Mei."

That pissed Sawamura off in all types of ways. It's not like he ever claimed to be better than anyone, he knew he was still just a rookie. But he was getting stronger, and soon he'd be able to wipe the smug look off Miyuki's face.

While Sawamura stewed in fury, Miyuki moved on ahead of him. He leaned on the gate and said, "At the same time, you've got potential. If you actually live up to it, you might be fun to play against. For me, that's what Quidditch is all about."

"You're a real jerk, Miyuki Kazuya."

Miyuki grinned. "Goodnight, Sawamura."

* * *

Sawamura came the next day. Miyuki wasn't there, thankfully. He couldn't think when Miyuki was around, too worried about doing something that would make Miyuki look down on him. It gave Sawamura the chance to try out the adjustments he suggested.

The changes did make his broom smoother to ride, annoyingly enough. When he decided to twist up into the air and fly in a loop, it was easier to catch his breath. That meant Miyuki had given him legit, good advice.

_But why? I'm nothing to him. _Sawamura pondered. Miyuki had said as much himself. _Maybe this was somehow some sick, reverse psychology trick. Or maybe it was supposed to be bad advice. Or maybe, _one last voice whispered, _he really thinks I have potential. _

Sawamura flew harder. It didn't matter what Miyuki thought. Sawamura had a new and improved goal: he'd get better, till Coach had to let him start a game. Then he'd keep starting games, till he started in the finals, most likely against Slytherin. Then he'd steal the Snitch right from under Narumiya's nose.

And then, Miyuki see him as a proper enemy.


	14. Chapter 14

"I want to show you something."

"What?"

"It's a surprise."

He lets Miyuki take his hand to pull him into the darkened hallway. Sawamura finds Hogwarts much more creepier at night. The halls are dead silent, to the point where any tiny noise makes him want to crawl out his skin. The air seems stiller and the ghosts are liable to jump out from nowhere. It's not his idea of a good time. But it's at night that he and Miyuki sneak out of the dorms together, away from everyone's eyes. These moments feel like dates more than anything except Hogsmeade.

"You won't even give me a hint?"

"That wouldn't make it a surprise, would it?"

Sawamura rolls his eyes, but smiles to himself. Miyuki is in a good mood, he can tell. It filled him with more anticipation for what the surprise could be.

Miyuki casts silencing charms on their feet to mute their footsteps. Then they scurry through the school, till they make it outside.

"I've seen the courtyards before, so that can't be it." Sawamura grumbles.

Miyuki flicks his forehead. "Patience is a virtue. Now, do you trust me?"

He squints his eyes. "I'm not sure. That's a suspicious question."

Miyuki snickers quietly. "Take my hands."

Sawamura hesitates, then reaches around to grab his other hand. "You better not turn me into a frog."

"No, this is way better. Close your eyes and whatever you do, _don't open them." _Miyuki clenches his hands tighter. "You'll regret it."

Sawamura nods. "Okay."

Miyuki counts off. "One, two, three, now!"

He shuts his eyes tight, and it feels like the ground is dropping out from under him. Everything is spinning, like he's on the world's fastest merry-go-round. He hopes to god that this isn't Miyuki's surprise because honestly, it's making him nauseous. He wonders if it would hurt to take one peek—

Then as soon as it starts, it's over. He's on solid ground again, though his legs feel a little wobbly. Sawamura opens his eyes to bright lights and the hustle and bustle of city life. His eyes dart from the billboards to the street performers to the cars zipping through the street.

"Amazing, right?" Miyuki grins. "We're downtown now."

"Did you—did we _Apparate?" _

"I got my Apparition license yesterday." Miyuki says. "I wanted the first place I Apparated to be here."

He drags Sawamura into a dark alley, where they stop in front of a dead end. "This is a very nice alley," Sawamura comments.

"Shut up." Miyuki responds. He taps his wand against the brick wall and the faint outline of a door appears.

"Whoa," Sawamura breathes. He's been a part of the Wizarding world for six years now and still every bit of magic he sees amazes him all over again.

Miyuki gives him a onceover. "Before we go in, you're going to need to change."

All Sawamura has on is ratty shorts and a plain yellow shirt. He expected to be laying on the

courtyard grass, not going to a club. "This is all I brought."

Miyuki raises his wand. "_Aparecium." _

His pajamas transform into a loose fitting suit. "Now we're ready to make an entrance." Miyuki said.

Miyuki casts the spell on himself, and they passed through the brick wall together. On the inside was a tiny but swanky club. Most of the other men in the room were in suits, while some of the woman were in flashy dresses while others only wore pants and a nice top. Everyone was united in being drunk off their asses.

"We're not old enough to be in a place like this." Sawamura whispers. Being underaged in a bar should be the least worries, considering he _Apparated _out of Hogwarts way past curfew, but priorities.

"Who cares how old we are? The bartender isn't going to buy us a birthday gift." With that, Miyuki heads straight for the bar.

_The Wizarding World really is a reckless one,_ Sawamura thinks to himself. Miyuki's right, the bartender doesn't ask to see any I.D. or their ages. He gives Miyuki a beer and snaps at Sawamura to stop staring at him (he can't help it, he's never seen a person that short before). They take their drinks and move to an empty table.

"You should drink something too. It'll loosen you up." Miyuki suggests.

He shakes his head. "No. I'm not old enough to drink yet."

"Jeez, no wonder Muggles are so uptight." Miyuki says, with a swig of his beer.

The singer on the stage draws his attention. She must be a Metamorphmagus, because she changes her mouth into a duck's beak to hit the higher notes.

Sawamura turns back to Miyuki. "You've never told me about this place."

"I haven't been here since I was a fourth year. The upperclassmen dragged all the newest Quidditch members out of bed and Apparated with some of us and snuck the rest of us into the Headmistress's office."

Sawamura gasps. "No way!"

Miyuki nods. "We used her Floo Network. Most of the seniors got drunk as soon as we got there. Kuramochi and I dared Zono to ask out a girl at the bar. She threw her drink his face." Miyuki laughs to himself. "That was one of the best nights of my life."

His insecurities rise up again. He's worried that he's not making this fun enough for Miyuki, it being just the two of them. "Next time, let's invite everyone."

Miyuki slides the side of his foot against Sawamura's. "I'd choose you over them for a good time."

Sawamura presses back. He's about to pull Miyuki up to dance, when the music changes to a low instrumental. A man appears on stage with a flowy cape and a tall, black hat.

"Whoa, that guy look likes a magician." Sawamura says, pointing to the stage.

The man whips off his cape and swishes it around him. The cape transforms into mist, the shape of a rabbit. The rabbit hops through the audience, passing through people's bodies. The other patrons clapped and hooted loudly.

"He is." Miyuki replies. "Sometimes it's nice to see fun magic tricks."

"It takes me back to when my family used to go see magic shows." As a kid, he'd watch the shows with wide eyes and wonder what it'd be like to be sawed in half. He believed magicians were the coolest people in the world. He never dreamed that he'd be one.

"Muggles can do magic?" Miyuki exclaims, loud enough to draw the attention of the people sitting around them.

"Muggles doing magic?" a guy in a raggedy suit chuckles. "Someone call the Ministry!"

The girl sitting with him laughs too. "I hope not. Muggles would use their magic to annoy each other to death."

Sawamura burns with embarrassment. "It's not real magic! It just looks like it."

Some other guy pulls a chair up to their table. "Let's see some magic then, Muggle."

Miyuki half rises out of his seat. "Don't talk to him like that."

Sawamura waves him off. "That's not an insult to me. My dad and grandpa are Muggles, and they're the best people I know." He turns to the guy. "Hand me a Sickle, Miyuki. I'll show you the magic I grew up with."

Miyuki reluctantly hands him the coin. "I like the magic you don't have to pay for," he says under his breath.

Sawamura waves the Sickle in front of the man's face. "Now you see the coin…" He moves the coin behind his head. "...now you don't!"

He shows his empty hands to the whole crowd. "Where's the coin?" the man asks.

He makes like he's pulling something from the guy's ear and slips the Sickle from his sleeve. "It was right here all along."

The crowd oohs and ahhs. "You used magic!" the woman says.

"Look at him. You think he's smart enough to do wordless spells?" Miyuki says.

At Sawamura's glare he says, "I'm sticking up for you!"

"Do another Muggle trick!" someone shouts and the audience cheers in agreement.

Sawamura rolls up his sleeves. "Alright, who wants to see me break off my thumb?"

* * *

He isn't sure whether it's because everyone is super drunk, mostly purebloods, or a combination of both, but the crowd loves him. People congregate around his table after Sawamura finishes doing all the quick tricks he knew from memory. In the hustle and bustle, it's all too easy for him and Miyuki to lose track of each other.

"Oh, looks like your boy has been snatched up." The woman, whose name he discovers is Seiko, points out.  
He sees Miyuki in the middle of the dance floor with a brunette in a short dress wrapped around him. He doesn't seem to be trying that hard to get away either.

Sawamura looks away abruptly. "Oh."

"I'll order you a drink to throw in his face." Seiko said. "A Fire Whisky will do the trick, trust me."

He shakes his head. "Miyuki's the one that brought me here to celebrate. He should have fun however he wants to."

He must've had a sullen look on his face, because she laughs. "You're too young to be so passive-aggressive."

Sawamura takes a noisy sip of his soda. "I'm not being passive-aggressive!"

The truth is, he's a little upset. He wants to be the one dancing with Miyuki. Instead, he has to watch him dance with some girl who's definitely drunk off her ass. Or not watch, as he's devoted his attention entirely to his drink, the table, anything other than the dance floor.

Because of that, he jumps when someone taps him on the shoulder.

"Are you done talking to your fans?" Miyuki asks. "I was hoping to dance with you at some point tonight."

"Why? You already found someone else to dance with." Sawamura huffs.

"She's the one one grabbed onto me! Seriously, I've got bruises on my arm." Miyuki rubs his arm to prove it. "I was waiting for you to rescue me."

"You looked like you were having fun."

"I was crying for help!"

"You two are giving me a headache." Seiko says from where she's put her head down on the table. She says a spell that quite literally pushes Sawamura up out of his chair and into Miyuki.

"Go! Dance!" she urges.

There's no point arguing after that. Miyuki pulls him onto the dance floor just as a slow song plays.

"I didn't expect you to get jealous," Miyuki grins down at him. "Now you see how I how feel every day."

Sawamura wasn't expecting him to say that. "Huh?"

Miyuki rolls his eyes. "You're popular wherever you go. The girls treat you like a mascot at school. The guys on the team love messing with you. I take you to some bar you've never been to before, and you've got these strangers all over you. No matter where we go, I never really have you to myself."

Sawamura blinks at him. A part of him was hoping that a drunk Miyuki would be touchy feely and embarrassing (because he shouldn't always be the one that gets made fun of), but this was more than he expected.

"Thanks for before," he replies awkwardly. "For defending me."

"You don't have to thank me for that. I wouldn't stand by and let someone basically call you a Mudblood."

Sawamura rests his head on Miyuki's shoulder. He wants to tell Miyuki that even though he had to do that, it made Sawamura happy when he jumped up to protect him. But he couldn't explain why it did, it just did.

So instead, he changes the subject. "You're way more popular than me. The girls talk about you all the time, right in front of me too! Girls that aren't even in our House show up at our games and make posters with your name on it…" he trails off at Miyuki's laughter. "What?"

"You're more possessive than I realized." He continues over Sawamura's protests. "You don't have to worry about that. I've only ever cared about what you thought of me."

Miyuki pauses, and Sawamura's heart speeds up as the tension around them becomes thick. Miyuki pushes him back to look at his face. "Because you're the one I l—"

Sawamura puts both his hands on Miyuki's mouth. "No!"

Miyuki says some muffled words under his hands that sound like "What the hell?"

"You're drunk. You can't say anything important to me while you're drunk!"

It's a good thing Sawamura says that, because the minute he takes off his hands Miyuki turns gray. "Uh oh," Miyuki says.

Miyuki runs into the bathroom, Sawamura trailing after him. Sawamura kneels by his side as he throws up, despite how gross it sounds. Miyuki would do the same for him without even thinking about it.

Sawamura puts his hand on his back. "Me too. I feel the same way."

He hopes that Miyuki will say what he was going say again, when he's not drunk and can remember hearing Sawamura's answer.

* * *

("Miyuki? Miyuki, wake up! You can't pass out, you're our ride home!")


End file.
